Emmanuel Adebayor: his last big match chance to prove himself for Palace could be at Wembley on Saturday in the FA Cup final against Manchester United
“If it ends up being my last season in England, my last match in England, is winning the FA Cup, that would be beautiful.”
That’s what Emmanuel Adebayor said yesterday as the build-up to Saturday’s FA Cup final at Wembley began in earnest for Crystal Palace.
Adebayor, the former Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham striker, was a January signing by Palace manager Alan Pardew on a short-term deal to the end of the season in an effort to end the goal drought that had plagued his side.
Adebayor was without a club when Palace came calling four months ago. The 32-year-old Togo international has since contributed one goal in seven appearances.
Adebayor’s place in Palace’s line-up for the final against Manchester United remains uncertain, although before last Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Southampton, Pardew threw down the challenge to the veteran goal-getter to prove his worth.
“He’s been a good character around this place, he’s won trophies,” Pardew said. “The decision we make on Ade will be on these two big games. I think he has still got a big part to play as he’s a top player.”
In his interview yesterday, Adebayor said, “I am doing everything possible to stay.”
Adebayor has never won the FA Cup. “At Arsenal I couldn’t win it with them, I went to City and couldn’t win it with them, I went to Tottenham and couldn’t win it. Coming to win it with Crystal Palace is crazy isn’t it?
“At my age now I have to win it. There is no way of saying ‘maybe tomorrow’. There is no ‘maybe tomorrow’ for me, with what I have done already with the league, I don’t think I have three or four FA Cups in me.
“Now is the right moment for me, let me go and do what I need to do to grab it.”
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