Not many players turn out for both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur with few willing to cross the divide in North London.
In terms of infamous Premier League moments, Sol Campbell walking out of Tottenham to join Arsenal is probably up there.
Campbell’s first return to White Hart Lane saw him receive a 90-minute-long chorus of boos alongside the word ‘Judas’ being held up on pieces of paper around the ground.
That was probably enough to put many players off from making the same move in the future.
David Bentley and William Gallas ended up turning out for both clubs but Bentley made little impact at Tottenham and had spent two years at Blackburn Rovers before his move.
Gallas was the last senior player to go directly from one side to the other and he was joined at Tottenham by a former Gunners man in 2011.
Tim Sherwood on Emmanuel Adebayor
As if Arsenal fans didn’t dislike Emmanuel Adebayor enough already, he joined Tottenham on loan from Manchester City in 2011.
The Togolese striker caused controversy in 2009, leaving Arsenal for City before running the length of the Etihad Stadium pitch to celebrate in front of the travelling Gunners fans.
Adebayor became public enemy number one in the red side of North London and then only made it worse by joining Tottenham after a loan spell at Real Madrid.
Adebayor got his career back on track at Tottenham, hitting 18 goals on loan before a permanent move which saw him stay at the club until January 2016.
His time at the club turned a little ugly in 2013 though as Andre Villas-Boas froze Adebayor out and made him train away form the first team.
Adebayor was brought back into the fold upon Tim Sherwood’s appointment and the former Spurs interim boss has now given his thoughts on the striker.
Speaking on Under the Cosh, Sherwood admitted that he thought Adebayor was ‘amazing’ and ‘brilliant’ for him.
Sherwood felt that getting Adebayor back on track was easy because he just gave him chances to play having coached him during his first-team exile.
Sherwood added that Adebayor’s attitude was ‘fantastic’ when training with the Under-21’s, meaning it was a seamless transition back into senior action.
“He was amazing for me. He was brilliant for me,” said Sherwood. “We just played him, it was the easiest job ever because he was getting frozen out, he was training with me in the Under-21’s for about two months because the other manager didn’t want him around. He couldn’t find another club, obviously he was on decent enough money and as soon as I took back over, I brought him back over. I spoke to him and said ‘you’re gonna train with the rest of the boys and you’re gonna be treated exactly like they are, but you’ve got to work hard and show what you’ve got, we know you’ve got ability’, and he was brilliant when he trained with me, fantastic, his attitude was great,” he added.
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What happened to Adebayor after Tottenham?
Adebayor spent a few months with Crystal Palace after leaving Tottenham but managed just two goals in 17 games across all competitions.
Palace released Adebayor in the summer of 2016 and he then spent six months out of the game before joining Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir.
Adebayor scored 28 times in two-and-a-half years there before joining Turkish rivals Kayserispor, where he played just eight times.
2020 saw Adebayor make a bizarre move to Paraguay with Olimpia before finishing up with Semassi back in his native Togo in 2021.
Now 40, Adebayor retired and called it a day in 2013, some seven years after leaving Tottenham.
Adebayor had his ups and downs at Spurs, but he will be better remembered at Tottenham than he will at Arsenal.
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