Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday announced that Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor has returned to the club on a permanent basis after signing from Manchester City.
Adebayor, 28, spent last season on loan at White Hart Lane from City and scored 18 goals in 37 appearances to finish the campaign as the north London club’s leading scorer.
Spurs did not reveal how much they had paid to secure Adebayor’s services, but reports in the British media claimed the transfer fee was ￡5 million (US$7.89 million).
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“I am pleased to be signing for Spurs on a permanent basis after finally agreeing my departure with Manchester City,” Adebayor told the club Web site.
“It may have taken longer than expected, but I am delighted to be back at Tottenham Hotspur. I really enjoyed my time here last season and I am hoping we can achieve great things together again,” he added.
Adebayor is new Tottenham coach Andre Villas-Boas’ third summer signing, after Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson joined from German club Hoffenheim and Belgian centerback Jan Vertonghen arrived from Dutch giants Ajax.
Beaten 2-1 at Newcastle United in their opening game of the new Premier League campaign, Spurs had started the current season with Jermain Defoe as their only recognized senior striker.
Russian international Roman Pavlyuchenko left to join Lokomotiv Moscow in January, while experienced Frenchman Louis Saha was released in June and has subsequently joined Sunderland.
Adebayor arrived in England in 2006, joining Spurs’ archrivals Arsenal from Monaco and spending two-and-a-half years with the club before moving to City in 2009.
He also spent time on loan at Real Madrid in the second half of the 2010-2011 season.
Meanwhile, AC Milan forward Antonio Cassano is set to join Inter, with Giampaolo Pazzini moving in the opposite direction, the two clubs said on Tuesday.
The clubs said they had been involved in negotiations over the players, who left Sampdoria during the 2010-2011 season, although a deal had yet to be finalized.
“It’s an interesting operation — who doesn’t want a player like Cassano?” Inter president Massimo Moratti was quoted as saying on the club’s Web site. “We think he can be useful and the coach thinks the same.”
AC Milan broadcast an interview on their TV channel with midfielder Riccardo Montolivo, welcoming Pazzini to the club.
“It will be wonderful if he arrives,” said Montolivo, a former teammate of Pazzini’s who was signed from Fiorentina earlier in the close season.
“Pazzini has done well in all the teams he played for. He is a fox in the penalty area, he’s strong in the air and helps his sides to play well,” he added.
Media reports say Milan will pay an additional 7.5 million euros (US$9.34 million) to their city rivals for Pazzini, 28, who scored only five goals in Serie A last season for Inter.
Cassano’s departure from AC Milan comes as a surprise, given that he has revived his career in his 18 months at the club and has become firmly established in the Italy lineup.
Having been overlooked for the 2010 World Cup, the 30-year-old formed Italy’s strike partnership with Mario Balotelli at Euro 2012, despite missing six months of the season after undergoing minor heart surgery.
Cassano has had a colorful career marked by tantrums and personality clashes, but his early immaturities looked to have been ironed out when he joined Sampdoria from Real Madrid in 2007.
However, a verbal spat with Sampdoria president Riccardo Garrone led to him being suspended in 2010 and he joined Milan where he became a key factor in their Serie A triumph last year.
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