It’s safe to say that there aren’t too many Emmanuel Adebaybor Arsenal shirts being worn around N5 these days, a player who burnt his own bridges with the club.
After joining Arsenal from Monaco in 2006, Adebayor went on to represent the Gunners 142 times, scoring 62 goals and providing 19 assists.
Adebayor was brilliant under Arsene Wenger’s guidance, but he ultimately decided to turn his back on the club in search of silverware with Manchester City.
However, Adebayor never won a club honour in England, his only medal came after a Spanish Cup win with Real Madrid.
But if leaving Arsenal for another Premier League side wasn’t enough, Adebayor completely ended all good will for himself in north London after his infamous celebration after scoring during his first appearance against his old side.
Emmanuel Adebayor says he never planned to wind up Arsenal fans
Adebayor was even criticised by Greater Manchester Police for his full pitch sprint to goad the Arsenal fans, who said: “The player’s goal celebration caused the opposition fans to be aggravated and there was a crowd surge.”
That being said, Adebayor has attempted to explain his ‘disrespectful’ celebration in an interview with Optus Sport, claiming that it wasn’t a premeditated idea.
Adebayor said: “From that moment the emotions came and it took control of my person to the end of the game.
“All I see is the ball in the air and before I even jump I start planning already what I am going to do.
“When I landed the emotion took over for like one second, I don’t know where the fans [are] anymore.
“I was feeling like a superhero and when I opened my arms, I swear to God as soon as I closed my eyes, everything that I can see is white.”
Kolo Toure added: “I could see his face changing, I could see like him running to the Arsenal fans and for me, as your brother, I thought I need to stop him.
“That’s why I run, you know, because I wanted to protect him – I saw the fans were very angry at him.”
Adebayor: “As I was walking back to the centre with Kolo Toure we are talking and that’s what I was asking him, what actually happened?
“I know I scored but like, what happened? He said, yeah you went in front of [the] Arsenal fans, you slide on your knees and they were not happy.
“It was not premeditated, it was not part of my programme, it was not planned at all.”
Adebayor has told Arsenal supporters to move on from his infamous knee slide
Interestingly, Adebayor told Arsenal fans to move on last year, a statement that was only likely to provoke further unrest among fans in north London.
Fortunately, Arsenal don’t appear at risk of a similar situation unfolding in the modern era.
It would be pretty unthinkable for either Eddie Nketiah or Emile Smith Rowe to do something similar these days, two players who left the club this summer.
And even if they did celebrate vibrantly after scoring against Arsenal, that would still be a million times more acceptable than the lengths Adebayor literally went to upset Gunners fans.
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