Chelsea should steer wide and clear of Emmanuel Adebayor's messy situation with Spurs

While I don't think Chelsea are seriously looking at bringing in Emmanuel Adebayor — I certainly hope we're not seriously considering this nonsense — on the off chance that we are, here is another red flag from the Telegraph to help us avoid him.

Emmanuel Adebayor's attempt to re-start his Premier League career is being threatened by the fact he is still being paid his full £100,000-a-week Tottenham Hotspur wages.

Despite leaving White Hart Lane in September, Adebayor is being paid in full by Spurs until he finds a new club or for the duration of his old contract that would have expired at the end of this season under the terms of his exit. Incredibly, that means the striker remains Tottenham's highest earner, on more than double what Harry Kane currently pockets, even though he is no longer contracted to the club.

Premier League clubs interested in signing Adebayor must negotiate with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy over how much of his £100,000-a-week salary they will fund until next summer.

-source: Telegraph

This is a) hilarious and b) flabbergasting and c) very Spursy indeed.  And something about negotiating with Daniel Levy?  No thanks.

The Telegraph go on to claim that Watford are the ones closest to bringing Adebayor back to the Premier League in January, though Chelsea do crop up, as do long-time suitors West Ham United who might actually have a real need with Diafra Sakho suffering a "significant injury" to his thigh.  How it makes sense to continue paying a player who left the club under what was previously called "mutual agreement" is beyond me.  When managers leave by this method, they do not usually get a long-term severance paycheck.  Then again, Adebayor had been looking for a pay-off before agreeing to leave.  Maybe different rules apply to players?  Maybe Levy struck some ridiculous deal just to get the striker out of his hair.  Who knows.

What I do know is that we should steer wide and clear of this mess.  Adebayor may be a useful striker (he certainly was once upon a time), or he may not be (he hasn't played in many months), but there's far too much drama already around this.  We should try to avoid extra drama, just for a change.