Arsenal may fear they have signed a troublesome player to rival Nicolas Anelka after Emmanuel Adebayor fell out with Togo on the eve of the African Cup of Nations and withdrew from the tournament. Only two weeks after he was suspended by AS Monaco for missing training, the new Arsenal signing refused to start his country’s match against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Cairo on Saturday after a dispute with Stephen Keshi, the coach.
Keshi, who has labelled Adebayor a “cry baby”, irritated the striker by announcing that he would be on the bench and, when the coach changed his mind, the player refused to take his place in the starting line-up. He eventually appeared for the final half-hour as a substitute in the 2-0 defeat but said that he would return to Togo to see his ill mother before also accusing Keshi of pressuring him into becoming his agent. “I told him no, I don’t work that way,” Adebayor said. “For me, the African Nations Cup is over.”
Keshi accused Adebayor of lying. “Don’t believe him. He thinks he’s a superstar, he is trying to finish me.”