Emmanuel Sheyi Adebayor (born February 26, 1984 in Lomé, Togo) is a Togolese football player who currently plays for Arsenal. He had previously played for FC Metz and AS Monaco.
Adebayor started at a training camp in Lomé. He made it to Under-15 level and was spotted by French club, FC Metz. After a trial, Adebayor joined the club in 1999, and after playing at Under-17 level, he moved up to the first team in 2001. In his first season, he played nine games and scored twice in his first season, although Metz were relegated from Ligue 1 that year. In the 2002/2003 season in Ligue 2 Adebayor scored 17 goals in 35 games, which attracted the attention of top clubs including Arsenal and Juventus. However, it was AS Monaco who ended up signing him. In the 2003-04 season he scored seven goals in 17 matches, helping Monaco reach the UEFA Champions League final with two goals in ten games, and in 2004-05 he scored nine goals in 34 matches. On January 13, 2006, Adebayor signed for Arsenal for an undisclosed fee. He was assigned shirt number 25, which previously belonged to, amongst others, Nigerian striker Nwankwo Kanu. In an interview with Arsenal.com, Adebayor said that he chose that shirt number because he idolised Kanu while he was a young player.
On the international front, Adebayor helped Togo qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany by scoring 11 goals in the qualifiers, the most in the African qualification tournament. He has been nominated twice for African Footballer of the Year.
