Adebayor on West Ham and Tottenham boo-boys

Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor has confirmed he wanted to join West Ham on transfer deadline day but insists he is happy to stay put after Spurs chairman Daniel Levy blocked the move.

Adebayor says he had five “good” clubs interested in taking him on loan and that a switch to Upton Park is what appealed to him most, but that Levy would not allow it due to the Hammers being direct rivals of Tottenham’s in the race for a top-four Barclays Premier League finish.

The 30-year-old Togolese frontman told Sky Sports News: “The club decided to send me out on loan, which I was pleased with, and I was lucky enough to have five good clubs (interested).

“I decided to go for three, to see which one I should choose, and finally when I chose the one I wanted to go to, unfortunately Mr Levy was against it because there was a rivalry between Tottenham and the club I wanted to go to.

“The club decided I should stay, which I am very happy to do. I am here to do my job.”

West Ham are currently eighth in the table, four points worse off than sixth-placed Tottenham.

Adebayor also confirmed that one of the interested parties were second-bottom QPR, whose manager Harry Redknapp – the man who brought the player to Spurs in 2011 – resigned from the position on Tuesday.

“Harry Redknapp is a great manager. He was the first person who brought me to Tottenham and I really liked him as a manager,” Adebayor said.

“But I decided to go to West Ham because of their position in the league – they are fighting, doing everything to finish into the top four.

“And also because I could have played alongside some of their players – like Alex Song (the midfielder on loan at West Ham from Barcelona and a former Arsenal team-mate of Adebayor’s), who is like a brother to me – I wanted to go to West Ham instead of QPR.”

Adebayor has been booed from the stands by some sections of the Tottenham support at games this season, something he says makes him “very sad” but stresses he can understand.

He has also emphasised the importance of players getting backing from the crowd during matches and urged Spurs fans to “move on”.

In November, Adebayor suggested after a 2-1 home defeat to Stoke that Tottenham might be better off playing away due to the negative atmosphere created by the club’s supporters at White Hart Lane.

He later issued a statement denying his comments were a criticism of the Spurs faithful and calling on them to get behind the team more.

And in his interview with Sky on Wednesday, Adebayor said of that episode: “I’m very sad about that (the boos directed at him) because one memory I have is when we lost the game against Stoke at home, which I was not very pleased about.

“If you play for Tottenham, you are a team that wants to finish in the top four and you are supposed to be beating Stoke at home – no disrespect to Stoke.

“So straight away after the game I was not happy, I was a little bit upset about the way we played and I was asked some questions, to which I gave the answers.

“Most of the fans believed what they read, but I came out clearly and said I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, because I know how much they pay to come and watch us and that they want us to perform.

“Even if I saw the Togo national team not playing well, if I had to boo them I would do the same thing, so I can understand their feeling.

“But one thing I know as well – a player playing with confidence is better than one playing with doubt in his head.

“If anyone thinks I’m not appreciative towards their support, that is not true, because at the end of the day, they are the ones who make me run more and make me score goals.

“If you score goals, you run in front of the fans and salute them, and those are the most beautiful moments in a footballer’s career.

“For me, I think they had a bad interpretation of what was written, and I think we have to forget those things and move on.”

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