Good new or bad news? Adebayor to sign new contract as Wenger slams European clubs
Gunners forward Emmanuel Adebayor has reached an agreement to sign a new contract at the club, according to Arsenal TV.
The Togo forward, who has been linked heavily with moves to AC Milan and Barcelona this summer, told Arsenal TV that he had agreed to extend his current deal for another year or two.
I've got mixed feelings about his comments. If he continues to improve or score 30 goals a season, we should be happy to have him, but despite his denials, he did suggest that he was open to a move earlier in the summer, during an adidas press conference.
There is no coincidence that the timing of the announcement comes just a day ahead of the Gunners first home game of pre-season against Juventus. Barcelona also admitted today that Adebayor was one of their targets, should they sell Samuel Eto'o.
Only this afternoon, ArsenalAddict was speculating what reaction Adebayor would get from us Gooners when he walks out onto the field, but the player denied he had ever asked for a move.
He said: "There was a lot of speculation and a lot of people talking on behalf of Adebayor but I never said that I wanted to leave the club. I have never told anyone I am leaving this club. What people read in the newspaper is not coming from me.
"I am ready to sign a new contract. I am feeling very good here and my heart is with Arsenal.
"This club has given me a lot of things and now we are in the same bopat and we have to work hard as a family and do a little bit better than what we have done last season.
"Arsene Wenger knew my desire was to stay at this club and he is like a father to me. Our relationship is very strong.
"I have a three year contract and I'm putting one or two more years and now I will make it four or five years.
"We have a great manager, great squad and great players. Sure we're young but if we put our hearts together and work as a family, we can achieve something, that's for sure.
"I love this club and today I have a big smile on my face."
Wenger backed up Adebayor's denials of wanting out of Arsenal and stated that his striker was always going to stay at the club.
Wenger said: “What is very damaging sometimes is that the player gets bad publicity against his own fans for things he has not said. That is sometimes difficult to repair. There is disappointment from the fans because they feel the player wants to go.
“But all I can say is that when I was face-to-face with him he always said his priority was to stay at the Club. And I told him that he has got his priorities right.”
I'm not surprised that Wenger has slated the European clubs for trying to unsettle players. Adriano Galliani at AC Milan and Txiki Bergiristain at Barca come to mind.
Wenger added: "There is a game going on in Europe where the big clubs tap up our players. They let us do the work and develop the players and then they think they can just come in and offer him big wages - but after they cannot come up with the transfer request. It should be the other way round."
"The rules are quite clear. If you want a player you call the club and ask how much they want for him, are you ready to sell him? If it's 'no' you don't need to speak to the player, because 'no' is 'no'."
Hopefully that will be an end to the matter and we can get on with waiting to see who else Wenger will sign.
What do you think? Are you glad that Adebayor is signing a new contract?
David Alexander
Reader Comments (23)
Absolutely great news. The guy's a male chicken (or at least his agent is) but he is a rare type of player and offers a dynamic that Arsenal need.
im n asrenal fan i aint happy he signed kmy(kiss my teeth)
his da same as bentner. we dnt need 2 of dem in da team sell him n get villa or even micah richards n get rid of senderos sell him on ebay or sumfink
I think it's great news that Ade is going to stay. I'm thinking he's got to hire himself a new agent. But at the same time he didn't go out, like Cesc, and denied the whole thing.
I don't think it's a great idea to give him a cold shoulder, but let's not sing his song for a while...
If he's focused. he's a great asset for us. Let's not forget that he's an incredible player.
Love and Arsenal forever!
I am not happy though!He is a confused lad,very soon he will say something different.He knows that people are going to boo him 2morow thats why he has come out to defend himself.Why didnt he do it all summer when it was being said.Fabregas was linked to madrid just a few days ago,and he came out and refuted the claims immediately.
Adebayor needs to sort his head out.Nough said.
I'm quite indifferent about this news.
if its true and he aint talkin shit then bring on the prem...glad hes made a statement to that effect....but why has it taken so long...doesnt add up...def more to it..
but if hes added a couple of years to his contract and then bangs in the goals this season...then either give him the bigbux or ship him off for 40mill...
season is lookin gooooooooooooooooood!!!
We will say all sorts of things but will quickly jump on the bandwagon when he starts banging in the goals...am glad he's staying...come on u GOONERS...its GOONER TILL WE DIE!!!
I think this is a great choice 4 everyone. Because the media would of grilled Arsenal 4 allowing everyone to leave. This not the time 4 our top goal scorer to leave so im happy.
(no matter how many chances he blow he did convert 30 of them)
I am happy. Adebayor is an idiot but he has three things going for him that Arsenal will miss if he had left. He is a proven goal scorer (30 goals last term), he is a tall and powerful presence up front, and he is one of few Arsenal pleyers who have heading ability. Don't get me wrong, I love Bendtner and his preseason form, but it would be nice to have the option of two tall forwards who can score in the air.
Ade is a big let down.Arsenal have shown that no player can hold us into ransome.He actually wanted to leave.He is greedy.Agreed he scored 30 goals but he lacks class,skill,technique and is always on offside.We would have made good money selling him.Let him prove himself this season.Arsenal for life,
flukes I think it's unfair to compare Adebayor to Bendtner because despite having a similar physique, they're two very different players and Bendtner is a far more intelligent (and Arsenal-like) player but Adebayor's a rare striker that's probably the best of his type.
And Chris who cares what the media say? I've got a split opinion on this, if we were offered 30 million or so I would've taken it, but not under 20 million.
I think some fans aren't giving Ade a chance but at the same time Ade can't claim that he had nothing to do with the media speculation.
the reason hes said he didn't defend himself was because he was away in toga with his family and didn't know wat was going on in Europe .( i seen the interview earlier )
"i was on holidays i didn't have my phone on i was unwinding with my family"
Years ago Liverpool introduced the first coloured player into their ranks, his name doesn`t matter.The `Kop` didn`t take to him at first but then he started scoring goals every week.The Liverpool Echo praised him but gave a word of warning "whilst he`s scoring goals he`s a hero, when he stops he`s just another black bastard. OK, Adebayor it`s over to you.
i am questioning his commitment. he is getting 100k a week. is that too much??he doesn't deserve that much after one season. the only reason he says he will stay is because he is making so much more cash. its bullshit, he has signed for money. if he has a shitty season, it could mean a terrible extension to his contract and unjustified increase in his wages. i will not be surprised to see another terrible shooting percentage...a million chances and only 30 goals.i mean its a lot of goals.but the amount of opportunities with so many misses is uncalled for..we'll see what this holds in 2 weeks time
Ade realised that non of the clubs that offered him theese huge salaries behind our backs wanted to pay for him... So instead he's gonna sign an improved contract, get his sign-on fee, and then hope one of theese no-class "big" clubs is comming for him next summer...
That way he get's an extra sign-on fee, because his next slave-master probably want to tie him down for at least 5 years, and minimum release claus on around £150m...
im happy,quite obviously he wasnt demanding 120k a week, more media propaganda ,viera did the same thing every season ,whats a pre season without a bit of turmopil ,ade knock in the goals an we will be all square!
one year ago ronaldinho had a 100 million release clause,hleb has a 70 mill release clause,them clauses are not worth the paper they are written on,an signing on fee's usually only occur when a player signs for a new club ,my cousin plays premiership football he advised me never listen to press or blogs only the horses mouth,ade had the right to ask for more money seen as cliche and sagna had been given new deals this close season giving them double his salary nearly
p.s. 4 million a year does not equal 100k a week
jack staniforth you are well out of order ,what has race got to do with someones bad performances ? its 2008 only a tiny minority of arsenal fans and i mean tiny tiny tinyyyy would consider racially abusing a player,you should keep your opinions to yourself
Correction,I am not out of order I am merely relatating to history not my personal opinion. Do I take it you are of the PC crowd who have removed black and white from your vocabulary. Race has nothing to do with performance other wise I would not be an Arsenal supporter so don`t try to change history just to suit the present minority trend.
If keeping ones opinions to ones self is what it`s all about we might as well close down the Arsenal websites and unplug the computer.Any way racial abuse was far from my mind, after all I`m black.
Said ADEBAYOR: I think the most important thing is today, because what you read in the newspaper anyone can put what they want in the newspaper. You can do it, somebody else can do it. Today I’m talking on the TV, when else have I talked on TV. My first interview was in Austria in June just before the Euro final and I have never said I would be leaving Arsenal so what people read in the newspaper is not coming from me. When you haven’t done anything wrong in your heart you feel free. All I have to do is play my football and I know the fans always love me so there’s no reason to not love me anymore because I’m still here.
Big ADE scored 30 goals for Arsenal last season. He is signing another contract. He has told Arsenal TV he never told anyone he wanted to leave Arsenal. Wenger has confirmed that in all his talks with Adebayor, he never said he was going, his preoccupation was to stay at Arsenal. There has been a lot of mischief going on. Arsene, Fergie and Fabregas can confirm that for you. If you ask me I will believe Wenger anytime over any of the Arsenal-bashing media outlets or fans.
Ade has said he is staying. Some Arsenal fans still want to kill him. They say his 30 goals were a fluke. To that I ask; How many did Tevez, Rooney, Berbatov, Shevchenko, Drogba, Santa Cruz score? What about in other leagues Eto', Van Nistlerooy, Henry, David Villa, Totti,Ibrahimovic, Mutu??? They say his two hat-tricks were against Derby. To that I say all the other supposedly superior strikers in the premiership played against Derby did any of them plunder 4 or 5 hat-tricks? They say the reason he scored those many goals is because Arsenal create too many chances. You will find that the Mancs create nearly the same number of chances as the gunners. Show me a striker who converts all his chances. Did Arsenal legends, Henry, Wright score 50 or 60 goals every season. What about Rooney, Ronaldo, Van Nistlerooy, Guiza, Trezeguet, Totti anybody.
Adebayor lead the line well, holding the ball, scrapping with defenders, drawing them away with his in-elegant runs and bringing the midfield into play and in the process even scored the BBC goal of the season. But when the innevitable goal drought occasioned by the over-exertion of leading the line alone came everyone blamed him for everything including the rising world oil prices. Show me a striker who has never had a goal drought. Sometimes I think the people who hate Adebayor do so for NON-FOOTBALLING REASONS.
When the dust of the rumour mill and the silly season has settled many will agree that Adebayor has earned every penny he will get from his new contract. Just like the super professional Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna who have been given improved contracts that double their pay. Granted Adebayor could have acted with more style but what do you know with all greedy agents, the media happy to publish Arsenal doom stories. Add to that odious mix the classless Italian and Spanish clubs de-stabilising our players. By the way Van Persie is reported to have said Arsenal must pay more. No one is killing him.
Wenger is happy for Adebayor to stay. Adebayor says he is happy to stay. Arsenal will be stronger with him around. I know many premiership managers are unhappy he stayed with the gunners. There are many defenders who don't like the prospect of playing against him this season. I will be cheering Adebayor and anyone who pulls on the red and white of Arsenal.
By the way off the pitch Ade is a model professional. When he got his vacation he did not go to some fancy beach. He did not go to fancy night clubs. He did not spit on someone or beat anyone up up. He went on a "tour of hope" across West Africa before winding up in his homeland Togo. He gave hope to disenfranchised children. At every stop, he told them they can be whatever they want if they work hard at it. And yes he shared his money with them.The BBC was there to capture and witness it. Cut the boy some slack!
Come on you gunners! I can't wait for the season to start.