Emmanuel Adebayor
A list like this without his name would be no list at all. No other player attracts the term ‘greedy’ like he does—just ask any Arsenal fan.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger saw huge potential in him when the then youngster was plying his trade at AS Monaco. Hence, he snapped him up and moulded him into one of the most feared strikers to grace the Premier League.
People might dislike him for his blatant approach towards money, but one can’t deny the ability he had as a player—especially when he cared. The striker was very quick for someone as tall as him and also had commendable ability with the ball at his feet.
His power inside the box was almost unparalleled too. It was these qualities that made him score 30 goals in 48 games across all competitions in 2007-08.
However, when the rich Arabs took over City and began the revolution, he quickly jumped ship for the Etihad stadium.
Many Arsenal players left for City, but (spoiler alert) no one else made this list because the others were more calculating than he was. Back then, Manchester City were a new club and were scattering money all around without a definite plan—and Adebayor chose to go with the gold.
His wages with City were a reported 175,000 pounds a week—which was more than double of what he was earning on his contract with Arsenal. Unfortunately for him, his performances also declined massively with City—and he ended up with 0 winners’ medal to his name.
In fact, he won just one trophy after leaving Arsenal—which was a Copa Del Rey medal with Real—failing to live up to the expectations that people had of him.
