Soccer Extreme : A prince turned pariah at Arsenal, a hero who has pledged to make Manchester City the top club in the world, a talisman and troublemaker for his country, and all but branded a mercenary by Sir Alex Ferguson - would the real Emmanuel Adebayor please stand up?One of the Premier League's most complex personalities has attracted as many detractors as he has won admirers during his three and a half years in English football. His ability has never been questioned.
The same cannot be said of his attitude. In fact, he can split opinion as easily as he splits a defence with a superbly timed run.
The Togolese international arrived at Eastlands last month from the Emirates in a deal which had been on the cards since last October.
Mark Hughes waited patiently for the player the normally reserved City boss used to talk up effortlessly in his days as Blackburn manager.
The move showed the kind of ambition expected of a club with designs on dominating both the domestic and European game in the future.
Yet there were many who wondered whether Hughes had paid out for £25million worth of trouble.
Adebayor made an agreement that he would leave Arsenal this year when he signed a four-year deal last summer.
In a turbulent season for the Gunners, the former Monaco striker became disliked by many supporters and even some of his team-mates. When Arsenal were made aware of City's interest, it was said that Arsene Wenger would gladly have driven the player to Manchester himself.
Even when the deal was finally completed, Manchester United boss Ferguson accused Adebayor's agent Stephane Courbis of hawking his client around Old Trafford and Chelsea in search of Champions League football and probably an even bigger pay packet.
"People can talk about players joining City for money, but players know the truth. Nobody hears the pitch the manager and chairman give players when they are trying to convince them to sign," said Adebayor.
"Last season both AC Milan and Barcelona wanted to sign me, but at those clubs there is already history - what is to build on? At City I have a chance to help make history for the club and the fans.
"I have the chance to be part of their first Premier League title and their first European Cup and if I didn't think they were real possibilities then I would not have joined. I was created to play football and that's what I have come to do at City. I have come to play at the highest level. I have a huge amount of respect for the game.
"I moved here for football reasons and for nothing else and when people see what we are capable of they will begin to understand my choice."
The Abu Dhabi Group's spending on players this summer alone is still expected to burst through the £100million mark, if and when they complete the signing of Everton's Joleon Lescott.
For arguably the first time in their history, Manchester City are gaining a global profile which Adebayor hopes will break them free from their parochial local spats. In days gone by, United losing seemed more important than City winning to some fans.
But if they are to achieve and then consolidate a position as Europe's elite football club then they must win battles further afield than just their own back yard.
First Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal need to be overcome at home, then the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter and Bayern Munich will need to be conquered on foreign shores. What is more, Adebayor, who probably became exasperated at Arsenal losing players and then having to rebuild the squad every season, firmly believes that his new club can invade the consciousness of their global rivals by achieving glory as early as this season.
"The goal is not to be bigger than Manchester United, but to be bigger than everybody," he said.
"We want to dominate both England and Europe, so that doesn't mean being bigger than just Chelsea or Manchester United, but bigger than Madrid and AC Milan as well.
"When people are picking City over the biggest clubs in Europe you know that we must be on the brink of something very special. I don't think it will be long before we are the top team in Manchester. People talk about it being in a year's time, but I have the belief it can be this season. With the squad we have I see no reason why we can't do amazing things this year."
Adebayor, who scored with a fine effort on his debut at Blackburn last week, has shown early signs that a partnership with Craig Bellamy is developing well.
The partnership that is really exciting City fans, as well as a few neutrals, has yet to flourish because he and Carlos Tevez have not appeared together. Like himself, Adebayor believes Tevez did not feel appreciated by his previous club and felt more love and respect from the one he is joining.
The former Metz trainee is also confident that no other side in the top flight can "come close" to assembling the striking talent that Mark Hughes now has to choose from.
"There is not a team in Europe that would not want Carlos in their squad but he chose City," he said.
"He didn't feel as wanted as he should at Manchester United, but like me when he met with the boss he understood how well respected and wanted he was.
"City have already made this feel like a family and when you feel wanted it comes across on the pitch. I am sure we can help create the most devastating attacking play in the Premier League. I don't believe any of the top four clubs have strikers to rival ours or even come close."
The arrivals of Adebayor and Kolo Toure present problems for City. Unlike sides in the top four, they have not had to contend with losing players to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Adebayor's Togo are well placed to qualify for the tournament in January and after putting aside differences with his country's FA, he looks set to lead their attack in Angola.
He once walked out on the squad after a row over bonus payments but has since proved his commitment to the team by playing while injured against Cameroon last year.
Drugs
"I turned down the chance to play for Nigeria, because I love my country. My family is still there and I will always have a strong attachment to it," he said. "If I hadn't been a footballer the only other choice I had was criminal activity in Togo, as I saw so many of my friends get mixed up in. To tell you the truth, I would probably be a gangster if I was not a footballer. Most of my friends from when I was young are bad boys.
"They roam my home city of Lome. They drink too much, smoke drugs and are involved in crime, but that's life in some parts of Africa. It is so different to other parts of the world and you have to accept that."
Within weeks of returning from Angola, Adebayor will face perhaps the toughest test of his career when he steps back into the arena where he was once adored, the Emirates, on April 24, when is he is certain to face plenty of abuse from the home support.
The turning point in his Arsenal career came little over 12 months ago when he demanded more than the £80,000-a- week offered by the Gunners board. Fans chanted abuse during a pre-season friendly at Barnet when their one-time hero was not even playing.
After one good season in which he scored 30 goals in all competitions, supporters of the North London club felt the man plucked from the obscurity of Monaco in January 2006, was seeking too much too soon.
The criticism eased off when he finally put pen to paper. Boos momentarily turned to cheers one again when his brilliant overhead kick at Villarreal gave Arsenal the crucial away goal which set up a one-sided Champions League semi-final defeat to United, in which Adebayor was largely anonymous.
Even so, the player himself felt he deserved better from the fans who once worshipped him. "I will never understand the abuse, nothing can be said to make me understand it. I gave everything during my time at Arsenal and scored a lot of goals for them," said Adebayor.
"I was very happy there and I think that showed on my face but in the last year the fans were not very nice to me. I don't really understand it, do they think that is going to really help motivate a player?
"When we lost I was as down as anybody, so to say I didn't care is absolutely crazy. City is a top club now, and I have to view Arsenal as our rivals, but I will look back on my time there with fondness, even though I found my treatment in the last year unacceptable.
"City's fans were there to welcome me. That is the sort of love I want.
"I have nothing but good things to say about Arsene Wenger, he has one of the most educated football brains I have ever known. The man was like a father to me.
"But at a point in your life you have to leave your father and take your own path. I believe I have chosen the right path, and I believe their will be a lot of glory on the path I have chosen." (newsoftheworld)