Unsettled Emmanuel Adebayor has signed for Crystal Palace until the end of the season in a bid to resurrect his career in the Barclays Premier League.
The Togo striker, who has scored 96 goals in 230 league games, has been without a club since September when his deal with Tottenham Hotspur was terminated by mutual consent.
Palace announced the short-term signing of Adebayor on Tuesday, handing him his famous jersey no 25.
#CPFC can confirm Emmanuel Adebayor will wear the no.25 shirt! #StandUp pic.twitter.com/gGAM2UrbHb
— Crystal Palace FC (@CPFC) January 26, 2016
The striker, who has scored 96 goals in 230 league games, has been without a club since September when his deal with Tottenham Hotspur was terminated by mutual consent. While the player became a free agent, Spurs have effectively been paying his £100,000-a-week wages as per their original contract with the 31-year-old, with that arrangement due to run through to the end of June.
It is understood their contribution to his weekly salary will now be reduced to around £35,000-a-week until the summer with Palace making up the remainder. His situation will be reviewed at the end of May but any deal that would apply for the 2015-16 campaign would be heavily incentivised and include a break clause that could be triggered if the former Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid player violates any of the club’s disciplinary rules.
Adebayor had attracted interest from clubs in China, Turkey and the Gulf, as well as Watford, and said the chance to live and play again in London was a big part of his decision to sign up with the Eagles.
Speaking to the club’s website, www.cpfc.co.uk, he said: “I chose Palace because my family are happy in London. Palace have been playing the football I like and they have a few players who are my friends.
“Hopefully I can bring more experience to Palace and achieve what they want to achieve.
“I don’t have anything personally to achieve – I’ve got to go for the team and what they want to achieve. As a footballer you always want to leave your name out there. What I’ve achieved in England and football so far, I am quite happy.
“Togo has been Togo for how many years? And I am the only one to have the chance to play in the Premier League and score that amount of goals, so I am already blessed with that.”
Alan Pardew’s need for a forward was established long before Connor Wickham was charged with violent conduct after a clash with Spurs’ Jan Vertonghen on Saturday, an offence which is likely to prompt a three-match ban
Dwight Gayle and Marouane Chamakh featured for Palace’s Under-21s on Monday but the senior team’s only goal in their last six league games came courtesy of Vertonghen’s own goal.
Adebayor’s match fitness would still constitute an issue. The player has employed a personal trainer since September in a bid to be ready for a return but he has played only 17 minutes of competitive football in a little over a year, and none at all since his six-minute cameo against Manchester City on 3 May, 2015.
Adebayor first moved to the Premier League in 2006 when he joined Arsenal from French side Monaco, and left for Manchester City in a £25million deal during the summer of 2009 before loan spells at Real Madrid and Spurs ahead of his permanent switch to White Hart Lane in August 2012.
The 31-year-old former African Footballer of the Year attributed his career slump to family crisis.
