Former Arsenal and Manchester City star Emmanuel Adebayor has announced his retirement from football. The Togolese international made the announcement through a video message on Instagram including his infamous goal for Manchester City against former club Arsenal.
The 39-year-old Togolese striker shone in his three and a half years at the Gunners after joining from Monaco in 2006, scoring 62 goals and in 2008 was crowned African Footballer of The Year and named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
Emmanuel Adebayor’s Impacts and Faults
Emmanuel Adebayo joined Manchester City in July 2009 for £25m which had recently been bought by the Abu Dhabi United Group with many Arsenal fans feeling let down by the move. To compound matters, two months later they played a Premier League game and Adebayor scored against his old club Arsenal as they won 4-2.
He celebrated the game by running to the travelling fans jubilating which was not acceptable to the travelling fans he was given a two-match ban and was also fined and also added to a three-match ban for a stamp on former Arsenal team-mate Robin van Persie.
Adebayor apologised, saying “the emotion took over me”, but said the Arsenal fans had been insulting him all game. The controversial goal – an 80th-minute header – features in his retirement announcement on Instagram, as does another strike for Manchester City.
Adebayor played for Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Tottenham, and Crystal Palace and he also had some spells in Turkey and Paraguay. The former Togo forward, who scored 32 goals in 85 games for his country, finished his career in his homeland at Semassi.
Only three African players have scored more Premier League goals than Adebayor’s 97 – Chelsea’s Didier Drogba (104), former Liverpool and Southampton winger Sadio Mane (111) and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah (131).
He wrote on Instagram saying: “From the highs to the lows, my career as a professional athlete has been an incredible journey.” “Thank you to my fans for being there every step of the way. I’m feeling so grateful for everything, and excited for what’s to come!”
