There are way too many sports autobiographies out these days.
But one footballer we really want to see release one is Emmanuel Adebayor. We’re not sure if he has one in the pipeline, but if he doesn’t, we’ll always have his Facebook page, which is awash with incredible allegations about his family.
Several months ago, the Spurs striker took a leave of absence to return home and resolve his family problems, after claiming his mother was using a form of witchcraft to end his career.
Everything died down for a while, until last week, when we nearly spat out our coffee reading his lengthy Facebook post about the extent of his family problems, including how his brother stole 21 phones from a football academy, his mother refused to speak to him after the birth of his daughter, his sister was renting out his home in Ghana for her own gain, another brother asked for money to return home for a funeral but never showed up, and his family demanded he build them each a house and pay them a wage.
On Monday, the second chapter of the world’s first Facebook autobiography went public (I quite like this format), and it all centered on his brother Rotimi, who he had accused of stealing mobile phones from the French football academy.
The post is an incredible read, over 1,000 words in total, and he’s written it in both English and French, so we didn’t even have to use Google translate.
After letting us know his brother has a troubled past, during which he spent time banished from home in a different city, Emmanuel goes on to list some of the incredibly nasty things his brother has done to him in the past.
To start with, according to his brother, it seems Rotimi really like stealing things. Like, on Creed Bratton levels.
First, Emmanuel claims that after returning home from the 2002 AFCON, he brought with him the jersey of Cameroonian legend Marc-Vivien Foe, who would tragically pass away a year later. However, despite believing the jersey was in safe hands, his brother soon flogged it for money.
By 2004, Adebayor was part of the Monaco side that reached the final of the Champions League. En route to the final, they memorably dumped Real Madrid from the competition, and it was here that Adebayor got to swap shirts with the great Zinedine Zidane. Zizou even signed the thing, but alas it didn’t last long in the Adebayor household.
Rotimi also allegedly stole a €45,000 necklace Emmanuel had purchased for his mother, which at the time was three months’ wages. He also says two of his brother’s friends were involved, and casually hands out their Twitter handles for those interested. It’s also clear that his brother is not a particularly good salesman.
In between the pretty serious allegations though, is one that just seems a bit out of place. Rotimi, it seems, has been raiding the larder.
Emmanuel also brings up the story from last week about how his brother stole 21 phones from the French football academy, only to correct the minor details. It seems his brother was particularly offended with the allegations made against him.
For the record, he stole less than 21 phones. Sure that’s grand…
It seems he didn’t just steal phones though, and his handsy nature around his team-mates’ gearbags has resulted in Emmanuel losing a friendship with someone he was once close with.
However, not content with stealing from his family and his teammates, Emmanuel claims his brother also nicked a collection of boots he had planned to donate to people in Africa, before flogging the down at a market stall. He’s nothing if not persistent.
I know how he feels. My brother once threw a football at my enormous Lego castle that I got for Christmas. Never forget.
It’s genuinely jaw dropping stuff though. But prepare to drop your jaw even further in the coming days, as the striker has promised us part 3 in the Adebayor Family Album, where he will be about his father Kola, or the “Lion of Judah” as Emmanuel refers to him.
It’s going to be pretty explosive.
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