Andre Villas-Boas warns unhappy striker: You’re not leaving, Adebayor, but you’re not in my team either

 
Tom Collomosse24 October 2012

Andre Villas-Boas today warned Emmanuel Adebayor that his ­frustration at being out of the side will continue but insisted he will not sell Tottenham’s highest earner in January.

Adebayor has yet to start a game this season after returning to the club on a permanent deal in the summer following a successful spell on loan from Manchester City last term.

The former Arsenal man could begin tomorrow night’s Europa League tie at NK Maribor but is likely to be relegated to the bench again at Southampton on Sunday, with Jermain Defoe in the starting XI.

Villas-Boas has persisted with a lone striker this season and Adebayor’s prospects will only improve if the manager changes that policy.

“Every player wants to play and at the moment we’re using one striker and Defoe is doing extremely well,” said Villas-Boas. “At the moment, Adebayor is in contention for games where we play two strikers.

“He’s done extremely well in the games that he has come on but we have not found comfort in a formation with two strikers yet. In the future when we rotate the strikers he will be back in contention. But I don’t think the club will be willing to let anybody go in January. Ade and I speak every day. Is he comfortable with the situation? Yes, I think so.”

Adebayor (above) is the club’s top earner and it is understood City are funding a chunk of his wages at White Hart Lane. The 28-year-old had a fine season under Harry Redknapp last year but after missing the start of the campaign through injury, he has been unable to regain his place.

Adebayor will be absent for at least part of January as he is likely to be included in the Togo squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. That would leave Defoe as the only senior forward at White Hart Lane but it is understood that Willian, who was impressive in Shakhtar Donetsk’s Champions League win over Chelsea last night, remains Villas-Boas’ top target.

The Brazilian attacker is keen to move to the Premier League and claimed before the Chelsea match that he had received text messages from the ­Portuguese.

“He is an extremely good player but I haven’t really thought about January yet,” Villas-Boas insisted. “The scouts all over the world are gathering information but we have to respect what we are doing and the talent we have in our squad.

“We have so many players coming back from injury in December and January and those will be great additions to our club.”

Whatever Villas-Boas wants, Shakhtar’s form in the Champions League — they are favourites to progress to the last 16 — means it will be difficult to prise Willian away during the winter.

Willian is one of a number of Shakhtar players who are coveted by some of the strongest clubs in Europe but the Ukrainian champions are under no pressure to sell.

Shakhtar’s director for strategy Joseph Palmer said: “We need to hold on to our best players to progress in the Champions League and in January I’m sure we will.”

Asked about Willian’s text-message claim, Palmer added: “It can be a little unsettling but it goes on quite a lot and certainly when another team is after a player, they always find a way to get messages through. I don’t read too much into it.”

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