Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor Passes Manchester City Medical

Arsenal stand to make a £22 million profit on Manchester City-bound Emmanuel Adebayor as the Togo striker made a further step towards a deal with the Citizens following a successful medical check at Eastlands, according to the BBC.

The player's mega-money move - he stands to pocket a tidy weekly wage of £170,000 - is riding on a work permit, which should be granted later today.

Adebayor spent three-and-half seasons at Arsenal following a £3 million switch from Monaco after he helped the Ligue 1 side make an unexpected appearance in the Champions League final in 2004 - a match they were to ultimately lose to Jose Mourinho's Porto.

Adebayor will be City's third striker signing this summer, and will join target-man Roque Santa Cruz and tireless forward Carlos Tevez, who received a hero's welcome following his two-year loan spell at city rivals Manchester United.

Mark Hughes' strengthening at City has now dented the squads of two members of England's top four, and the club's chances of breaking into the Champions League elite continue to increase.
Adebayor scored 62 goals in 142 Arsenal appearances.

Manchester City in talks with Arsenal over signing star striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

Manchester City are in discussions with Arsenal over signing their striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

The big-spending Eastlands club are keen to boost their squad further in what has already been a frantic summer in the transfer market.
City have already signed Gareth Barry from Aston Villa and Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn, with Carlos Tevez set to cross town from Manchester United and join the revolution.

They are however keen to boost their attacking options further, having released a statement on Friday to say they were ending their interest in signing Barcelona star Samuel Eto'o.

Adebayor has reportedly been a target for European giants AC Milan and Barcelona.

His stock has fallen dramatically among Arsenal supporters after a string of disappointing performances.

Adebayor joined Arsenal in 2006, with his goals helping the Gunners to make a concerted challenge for the league title in 2007-08, before they fell away in the final two months of the season.

Adebayor fights with a nigerian fan at the Lagos Airport

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor had a furious four-letter word bust-up with an Arsenal fan at Lagos airport who accused him of not pulling his weight for the club.

Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas admits he was flattered by reports Inter Milan were interested in signing him during the January transfer window, but insists he is committed to Spurs, according to today's national papers.

Manchester United target Karim Benzema says he would rather move to Spain from Lyon than the Premier League.

Striker Robin van Persie says he will only sign a new contract at Arsenal if they can match his desire to win silverware.

Report: Arsenal Line-Up Real Madrid's Huntelaar To Replace Barcelona-Bound Emmanuel Adebayor

According to a report in the British tabloid The Daily Star, Spanish giants Barcelona are preparing an end-of-season offer for Arsenal forward Emmanuel Adebayor.

The 6ft 3in forward, who found the back of the net 30 times in all competitions for the Gunners last season, is wanted by La Blaugrana as both Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry could leave in the summer.

It is thought that Los Cules have also identified Arsenal's Robin van Persie as a possible arrival, but while manager Arsene Wenger would be prepared to sell Adebayor for around €22.7 million, he is eager to keep hold of the Dutch forward.

Apparently, Wenger already has a potential replacement in mind in the form of Real Madrid's Dutch international striker, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

The 25-year-old only moved to the Bernabeu from Ajax in the January transfer window, for €20m, but it is claimed Los Blancos are already prepared to let him go in the summer, possibly for around €17m.

African Debate: CAF Bungles Awards Yet Again

How credible is the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Player of the Year Award?

Not very credible, and unless something drastic is done about this, it will soon become a scandal.

Before CAF took over this award in 1992, it was organised by France Football Magazine. Football Football began the awards in 1970 and over time, winners were mainly from Francophone countries or playing in the French league.

Nigeria's Austin 'Jay-Jay' Okocha was twice denied the award by CAF, in 1998 and 2004.

At the 1998 World Cup in France, Okocha caught the eye so much that Paris Saint-Germain promptly forked out a then record-breaking $17 million to prise the stylish midfielder from Fenerbahce in Turkey. Yet Morocco's Mustapha Hadji was preferred by CAF as the Player of the Year for 1998.

And in 2004, Okocha led an average Nigerian team to reach the last four at the Nations Cup in Tunisia, even scoring three goals to emerge as one of the tournament's leading scorers. Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o would later be preferred as Africa's Player of the Year.

In 2007, CAF gifted the gong to a surprised Frederic Kanoute of Mali.

Didier Drogba was far and away the stand-out player that year but his "undoing" was that he elected to stay back with his national team at the then ongoing Nations Cup, rather than break camp and fly out to pick up his prize in neighbouring Togo.

The truth was that the awards ceremony in Togo was ill-timed and once again showed how easily CAF can be manipulated by powerful sponsors, even beyond reason.

The 2007 award was a farce, and it went a long way in further reducing the value of what is supposed to be the continent's most prestigious individual accolade.

Following on the heels of this was the installation of Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor as Africa's top player for 2008.

No one doubts the talent of Adebayor or what he achieved at English club Arsenal last year. Yet, Arsenal did not win anything in the year under review and Togo failed to qualify for the 2008 Nations Cup.

Mohamed Aboutrika, on the other hand, played a pivotal role as Egypt won a record sixth Nations cup in Ghana. He scored four goals including the championship winner.

Aboutrika followed up on this months later by inspiring Al Ahly to land an unprecedented sixth CAF Champions League trophy.

The football in the English Premier League is on a higher level than what we have in Egypt or even the CAF Champions League, but it must also be argued that Adebayor netted 30 goals in 49 games playing alongside top-class players like Cesc Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb.

By endorsing Adebayor's nomination, CAF has again acknowledged that football on the continent is many light years behind that in Europe. It was more a case of anything foreign, better than what we may ever have here.

To CAF's credit, they did what they could not dare do in 2007 - publish a detailed breakdown of how the voting went for the 2008 Player of the Year Award.

But even then, it is rather worrying that only 37 of the 53 national team coaches (less than 70%) thought it important to respond to this poll. Would the 16 other coaches not have made a difference in the final outcome?

Had CAF been offering these member-nations monetary grants, they would have been oversubscribed by these same countries.

CAF must therefore re-design its voting format to be more representative, as it is with the FIFA awards, where both national team coaches and their captains as well as representatives of FIFpro are involved in the voting.

If the Cairo-based association insist on bungling this award, it can only mean that organisers of rival such awards may soon be having the last laugh, because the CAF award will soon be a bad joke for football.

Adebayor Named African Player Of The Year

Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor was Tuesday night named CAF African Player of the Year for 2008 at an elaborate awards ceremony in Lagos.

Adebayor beat Mohamed Aboutrika of Egypt and Ghana’s Michael Essien to win the prestigious award, which involved voting by the national team coaches of CAF’s member-nations.

“This is a special night for me. I dedicate this award to my mum, without her, I would be nothing. My father is no more but where ever he is, he will be proud of me,” said Adebayor, who was accompanied by his mother.

Adebayor took away a crystal trophy and a cash prize of $20,000.

This is the first time that a Togolese will be voted as Africa’s best player.

The Arsenal star's exploits of the past year were mainly with his English Premier League club. In the absence of France international Thierry Henry, who moved to Spanish club Barcelona, the Togo star stepped up to finish the season with an impressive tally of 30 goals.

The striker also inspired Togo to reach the final qualifying round for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.

The awards night was graced by many dignitaries including FIFA president Joseph Blatter and CAF president Issa Hayatou.

Ahly’s Aboutrika got a consolation prize as the Inter-Club Player of the Year.

Several other Egyptians won various award categories. Egypt coach, Hassan Shehata was Africa’s Coach of the Year, and the team he led to successfully defend the Nations Cup in Accra last year were picked as the best national team on the continent.

Ahly were crowned Club of the Year ahead of Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien, who defended the CAF Confederation Cup, and beaten CAF Champions League finalists, Cotonsport from Cameroon.

Salomon Kalou of Ivory Coast and Chelsea was the CAF Young Player of the Year ahead of Cameroon’s Stephane Mbia and Nigerian forward Victor Obinna Nsofor.

The list of award winners:

CAF Player of the Year

Emmanuel Adebayor - Togo/Arsenal

CAF Young Player

Salomon Kalou - Ivory Coast/Chelsea

CAF Female Player

Alice Matlou - South Africa

National Team of the Year

Egypt

Coach of the Year

Hassan Shehata - Egypt

Best Club

Ahly - Egypt

Inter-Club Player of the Year

Mohamed Aboutrika - Al Ahly

African Legend

Christian Chukwu - Nigeria

FIFA Begins Inspection Visit In Nigeria

The first stop-over by Warner's team on Friday was to the country's commercial capital Lagos. They will continue their inspection Monday in the capital city of Abuja. The other cities to be visited by Fifa officials include Kaduna, Kano, Calabar, Warri, Bauchi and Enugu.

This will be Fifa's third visit to Nigeria in respect to the Under-17 Championship. In earlier visits, Fifa officials have urged the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the tournament to upgrade existing facilities and infrastructure.

Nigeria will play host to the Fifa competition after the government rescinded an earlier decision to withdraw as hosts because they could not afford to do so. However, the budget to stage the event was drastically slashed with Fifa also assuring the government it will assist by footing some of the expenses.

The country's Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan, is personally supervising the organisation of the championship.

Top Ten African Players Of 2008

10. Jon Mikel Obi (Nigeria & Chelsea)

The young midfielder showed some battling qualities many thought he did not have at the Nations Cup, where the Super Eagles barely made it to the last eight. Many predicted that he would not have a future at Chelsea following the shock departure of Jose Mourinho, but Avram Grant kept faith with him and this season Luiz Felipe Scolari has given him even more responsibilities, which he has relished in the absence of the injured Michael Essien.

9. Mohamed Zidan (Egypt & Hamburger SV/Borussia Dortmund)

He was unsettled at German Bundesliga outfit Hamburg last season, but his switch to Borussia Dortmund has seen him prove his class. He has already matched his three-goal tally for Humburg last season at Dortmund in just seven games. He was outstanding in his Nations Cup debut in Ghana, showing what a clinical and classy finisher he is, with two superbly struck goals in Egypt's opening group game against mighty Cameroon.

8. Frederic Kanoute (Mali & Sevilla)

He was named Africa's top star for 2007 by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Lome, Togo - only because Drogba failed to attend the awards, being just next door in Ghana with Ivory Coast participating in the Nations Cup. Mali partly owe Kanoute their comeback after they failed miserably in the qualifers for the 2006 World Cup and so did not feature at the 2006 Nations Cup in Egypt.

7. Sulley Muntari (Ghana & Portsmouth/Inter)

The Ghana midfielder is back the familiar terrain of Italy, after leaving Udinese for a season at Portsmouth, where he won an FA Cup winners' medal. He has settled down at star-studded Inter without too much trouble. Earlier in the year, he played a major part for his country, too, as Nations Cup hosts Ghana went as far as the semi-finals, despite losing the inspirational Stephen Appiah through injury before the competition had even begun.

6. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast/Chelsea)

Injuries and controversies made sure that the big man failed to match his performance of the 2006/07 season, when he was far and away the best African player. He has yet to reach his high standards again but when he does, it will be to the benefit of both club and country. Still, performed well for Chelsea and proved an asset whenever he was in the team.

5. Michael Essien (Ghana & Chelsea)

The former Lyon midfielder came into his own last season at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea reached their first-ever UEFA Champions League final. He was also the heart and soul of an average Ghana Black Stars side that exceeded many expectations to reach the last four of the Nations Cup they hosted in February.

4. Amr Zaki (Egypt & Zamalek/Wigan Athletic)

Egyptian players are not known to be great travellers, but this Zamalek centre-forward has already made a success of his second shot at glory in Europe with some cracking goals for modest Wigan in the English Premier League. It is little wonder that he has now been linked with some of Europe's top guns by the time his loan deal at Wigan runs out, though Steve Bruce is understandably eager to keep the goal machine at the JJB Stadium.

However, it was his five-star showing at the Nations Cup that really got the world to take notice. He scored thrice as well as taught an Ivorian back-four complete with Arsenal's Kolo Toure a football lesson in the semi-finals of the tournament. Egypt went on to claim their second Nations Cup in a row.

3. Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo & Arsenal)

Filled the goal-scoring void left by French legend Therry Henry at Arsenal last season by scoring 30 goals in all competitions. However, the Gunners failed to land any piece of silverware. He has also kept Togo in the reckoning for a second World Cup finals appearance after putting four goals past Swaziland.

2. Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon & Barcelona)

Barcelona did not win anything last term and even wanted to make the Cameroonian star one of the scapegoats for this, but the three-time African Player of the Year has since proved he still knows his way to goal, with an incredible 14 goals in La liga already. Last season he was hampered by injury and even came close to leaving Camp Nou this summer.

At the Nations Cup in Ghana, he put to rest the all-time scoring record of 14 goals set by Ivorian striker Laurent Pokou by scoring a total of 16 and counting.

1. Mohamed Aboutrika (Egypt & Al Ahly)

He was the continent's best player in 2008. He may still be playing his club football in Africa, but no one can doubt the quality of this attacking midfielder, who has made it a habit to score the important goals - whether for his club Al Ahly or the Egyptian national team.

He scored the goal that won the Pharaohs the Nations Cup in Accra for an unprecedented sixth time and has been the heart of an average Ahly team, as they also won an unprecedented sixth Champions trophy. Besides these accomplishments, this 30-year-old has shown great consistency at the top since 2005.

"I am Mad"

Emmanuel Adebayor was sent off during Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Sunday for a second bookable offense, after raising his elbow and foot against the Reds' defender Alvaro Arbeloa.

The Spaniard fell, according to the Arsenal striker, as is someone had "put a knife in him", and Adebayor was clearly furious with both the Liverpool player and the referee after the game.

"The defender threw himself on the floor as if I put a knife in him. I hope when the referee goes home and watches it on the TV, he will see it was a foul but I didn’t deserve a card," the Togolese said.

"Of course I’m annoyed. I cannot say he cheated but what he did wasn’t fair play at all.

"It was a mistake by the ref. He said it was for the leg but if I don’t put my body in there I would never score a goal in this league."

His manager, Arsene Wenger, was in complete agreement with the player's views, and felt that referee Howard Webb had cost his team two valuable points.

"It was a very soft sending off," said the Arsenal boss.

"Today we had the ‘Be a Gooner, Be a Giver’ charity appeal — you cannot say the referee was a Gooner today but he was a giver because he gave us yellow cards we did not deserve.

"Every week I sit in front of you when we play away from home and you say ‘People get in your faces and you cannot cope with it’. Have you seen anybody sent off?

"Do you want me to show you our players and the damage done to them after the game? It’s a joke."

Meanwhile, Arsenal also have a massive injury worry over skipper Cesc Fabregas, who suffered medial ligament damage after tangling with Xabi Alonso during the game.