Emmanuel Adebayor was beginning to wind up Tottenham staff... chairman Daniel Levy is glad to be shot of the controversial striker

• Emmanuel Adebayor departed Tottenham after reaching mutual agreement
• Adebayor made it clear he was happy to report for training with U21 squad
• The forward has signed a non-disclosure agreement with chief Daniel Levy
• Levy agreed to pay him the bulk of the £5m salary he was entitled to earn 
• Arsene Wenger was entitled to make his move for striker Karim Benzema
• It took the personal intervention of Florentino Perez to prevent the transfer

By Neil Ashton for the Daily Mail

Published: 16:32 EST, 17 September 2015 | Updated: 05:52 EST, 18 September 2015

During Emmanuel Adebayor’s exit negotiations from Tottenham, Daniel Levy asked the Togolese striker if there was anything he could do to help, or if he had a preference on his next club.

‘Yes — Real Madrid or Chelsea,’ Adebayor would reply, with a huge smile on his face.

Otherwise, the forward made it clear that he was quite happy to report for training with Ugo Ehiogu’s Under 21 development squad for the remaining year of his £100,000-a-week contract.

Emmanuel Adebayor left Tottenham by mutual consent after the club and player came to an agreement

Adebayor made it clear he was quite happy to report for training with Ugo Ehiogu’s U21 development squad

Tottenham’s chairman had something very different in mind, with more realistic offers from Aston Villa and West Ham on the table as they discussed a severance package to end his disastrous, three-year spell at White Hart Lane.

Adebayor is one tricky customer and Levy should have known better than to make his first offer of £1million net to sever his ties with the club before the transfer window closed on September 1.

That would have enabled the 31-year-old striker the opportunity to resume a playing career that came grinding to a halt after his embarrassing performance at Villa Park on November 2 2014.

That was Adebayor’s last start in the Barclays Premier League, where he was dragged off in the 58th minute after one of the most disinterested, listless appearances of his professional career. He is in a far better place now, particularly after Levy agreed to pay the striker the bulk of the £5m salary that he was entitled to earn over the remaining 12 months of his contract.

Adebayor has signed a non-disclosure agreement, which means the secrets of his largely unsuccessful spell at White Hart Lane are unlikely to spill out until Levy has paid him the final penny due.

Sensibly, the Spurs chairman is paying the striker in stages, drip-feeding him in instalments to make sure that he sticks to the agreement signed earlier this week.

Daniel Levy should have known better than to make his first offer of £1m net to sever his ties with the club

It has to come to this because Adebayor was beginning to get on the goat of staff at the training ground by telling them that ‘life is good’ whenever he passed them by.

Although he was no longer involved with the first team he had taken to being chauffeured from his north London home into Tottenham’s new training facility in Enfield.

Some days his custom-built Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe (on the road price £400,000, plus trimmings) took his fancy. On others he would emerge from the back of a souped-up Mercedes G wagon (£88,000, plus extras).

Either way, no-one at Tottenham’s training ground had seen him drive in about a year.

The Togo striker was beginning to get on the goat of staff at the club's training ground because of his attitude

He had fulfilled his contractual obligations by reporting for training each day, opting to work with the development squads when Mauricio Pochettino confirmed that he would never play for the first team again.

Aaron Lennon, another outcast, also trained with the Under 21 team, helping to pass on some of his experience as a senior professional to the young players while he waited for Everton to reach an agreement with Levy.

Adebayor saw it a little differently, at times openly showing his dissatisfaction with sessions that are designed to improve young players and turn them into first-team potential.

Once the moves to Aston Villa and West Ham had predictably fallen through, the presence of a £100,000-a-week striker at the training ground for the next eight months was likely to have a negative impact on the club.

Aaron Lennon (left) another outcast, also trained with the U21 team, helping to pass on some experience

Although Tottenham have released his registration, the only way Adebayor can sign for another club before January is via a successful appeal to FIFA.

He can cite ‘sporting reasons’, making a case that a player who has only made six, fleeting appearances as a substitute since that game at Villa Park in November 2014 is entitled to start over.

No-one has ever questioned Adebayor’s talent and his goal in the Champions League for former club Arsenal against Villarreal in 2009 is one of the best in the competition’s history.

Eventually someone will take him on again, convincing themselves that they can get half a season or more out of him at the highest level.

As ever, there will be a heavy price to pay for it.

Spurs agreed to pay Adebayor the bulk of the £5m salary he was entitled to over the remaining 12 months

Arsene Wenger has been heavily criticised for pursuing his seemingly pie-in-the sky idea of signing Karim Benzema from Real Madrid, but Arsenal’s manager was entitled to make his move.

Benzema was ready to leave the Bernabeu for a new challenge in London with Arsenal in the summer transfer window and Wenger only acted because he was encouraged to do so.

It took the personal intervention of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who lists Benzema as one of his favourite players, to prevent the transfer.

After Wenger had set the standard of his targets so high, nothing else on the market could possibly compare.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was entitled to make his move for Karim Benzema despite the criticism 

It took the personal intervention of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez to prevent Benzema's transfer

Life could have turned out a lot differently for Everton’s hat-trick hero Steven Naismith if he had remained with Chelsea as a youngster.

Naismith, who came off the bench in Everton’s 3-1 win over Chelsea at Goodison Park last weekend, was briefly on the books of the west London club when he was a kid, before returning to Scotland.

Steven Naismith (left) was briefly on the books of Chelsea - who he scored a hat-trick against last weekend

Steve McClaren looked in need of a good sit down after Newcastle’s abject surrender at West Ham on Monday and that is exactly what he did at the final whistle.

The beleaguered Toon boss perched outside the visitors’ dressing room for five minutes after the 2-0 defeat to gather his thoughts before he went in to address his players. Realistically, he only needed one word to sum up their performance.

Steve McClaren looked in need of a good sit down after Newcastle’s abject surrender at West Ham

Former Wimbledon manager Dave Bassett and ex-Dons midfielder Wally Downes have collaborated on a new book to provide an accurate reflection of events at Plough Lane during the club’s glory years.

The pair have been working on Crazy Gang — the true story of football’s miracle — with veteran journalist Tony Stenson for the past six months and it is due to be released at a reception attended by many of the club’s former players on October 16. 

Former Dons boss Dave Bassett and ex-midfielder Wally Downes have collaborated on a new book

Bassett and Downes (pictured) provide accurate reflection of events at Plough Lane during club’s glory years

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