Emmanuel Adebayor has come out in public and admitted that he made a mistake by leaving Arsenal.
The 32-year-old is currently plying his trade with London outfit Crystal Palace. He started his Premier League journey with the Gunners after joining them in 2006. Three years later, he left the Emirates and moved to Manchester City, who were taken over by the Abu Dhabi United group a year before.
Adebayor scored against Arsenal at the Etihad the same season. Following his goal, he ran the length of the pitch and celebrated in front of the travelling Gunners fans, who were seated at the other end of the pitch.
The Togo international left City and joined Tottenham Hotspur after a brief loan spell at Real Madrid. After his exit from White Hart Lane, Alan Pardew signed him for Palace earlier in this calendar year.
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Adebayor came off the bench in Palace’s 1-1 draw against Arsenal. The African striker was once again booed when he warmed up on the sidelines and he admitted he was delighted to return to the Emirates and leave with a point for his new side.
“For me, at the end of the day I have to be happy about where I came from and what I have become today – I have to forget about all the haters," The Mirror quoted Adebayor as saying.
“All the Arsenal fans boo me and when I look back I understand where everything went wrong but there are certain things in life you cannot come back to anymore, you just look at it and say 'okay I made a mistake'.
“We all do things at some stage of our lives that we are not supposed to do but the most important thing is to keep moving. It is not my first time coming back to play against Arsenal at the Emirates.
“You can see when I was on the bench and warming up and they were booing me I was just laughing, I cannot say I’m used to it because it is not good to get used to this kind of stuff.
“But at the end of the day it is funny, the weather was good, we were playing in London and 20 minutes from my house, I have to be happy. If I'm not happy then something is wrong.
“It is more than a pleasure coming back to this beautiful stadium and I really enjoyed myself and playing a part in our goal it is even better.”
