Adebayor Tells Us What We Already Knew: It’s All About The Money.

By: chris | May 13th, 2009

We’d like to think that footballers have an overwhelming attachment to the shirt or that their love of the game supersedes all. But they don’t and it doesn’t. At least not typically.

No need to sit down and catch your breath for this one: Emmanuel Adebayor doesn’t play for Arsenal or the fans or his employers. He plays for his wallet.

Adebayor speaking to BBC Africa (via an outfit which is not the BBC):

“It is not true, it is about money,” Adebayor is quoted as telling BBC Africa Sports editor Farayi Mungazi when asked whether it is true when footballers say that playing for a certain club is not about the wages.

“You are talking about in life and it is about money. When we are young, of course we played because we loved the game, we play because we were passionate about the game.

“But now as soon as you reach a stage where you are professional and playing Champions League, after all those things we are talking about money.

“If it is not because of money, what am I going to be playing for Arsenal for? If it is not because of money I don’t think I would go to Arsenal to play. I would stay in my country, I would stay in Lome where everyone loves me.

“If it’s not because of money, I would not have come to Europe.”

Even though this comes as no surprise, it’s still unlikely to endear Emmanuel to Arsenal fans, who are already enjoying his constant flirtations with Milan (supplementing his lack of goals in the league).

The snubs of ManCity breed some hope, but no great footballer wants to play for a team which has lost more than its won and will struggle mightily to get into Europe at all over the next couple years. As Adebayor said, once you’ve reached a certain pinnacle it’s simply about the cash.

And there you have it: blunt honesty from an athlete telling us what we already knew but never seem to hear. We could say it’s something the world could use more of, but the old adage “his feet aren’t connected to his brain” suddenly starts ringing about. Best to keep these to a minimum, then.