Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has called for the club's fans to get behind striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who has ended speculation over his future by signing and new contract.
The Togo international, scorer of 30 goals last season, was the subject of fevered transfer gossip during the summer, with AC Milan and Barcelona both showing a strong interest in the £35million-rated striker.
However, the 24-year-old, plucked from Monaco in January 2006, announced on the eve of the new campaign he would be staying with the Gunners after agreeing terms on an improved deal - reported to be worth around £80,000 a week - which has now been sealed and is set to tie the striker to Arsenal until at least 2012.
Adebayor had received something of a mixed reception from certain sections of the Gunners faithful on his return to action - most noticeably at the start of the Emirates Cup earlier this month.
The boo-boys again let their feelings be known at times in the opening match of the Barclays Premier League season against West Brom on Saturday.
However, Wenger sees no reason why the striker should not receive the full backing of everyone.
He said: "We have to get behind him and support him because he is a tremendous force and (is of) tremendous importance for the team - you want your own fans to be behind him.
"What happened in the transfer period did not always reflect his deep desire and there was manipulation from agents on both sides, but overall I am positive he will recover."
Wenger added: "Every player needs to feel wanted.
"I think he is settled in his own mind. He has given a lot in the first two games."
Arsenal travel to Fulham on Saturday for another televised encounter, this time in the late afternoon slot, but will once again be without Cesc Fabregas, who has a hamstring problem and is expected back for the second leg of the Gunners' Champions League qualifier against FC Twente on August 27.
Wenger is still searching for at least one new body to add to his midfield before the transfer windows closes in two weeks.
Suggested targets include Liverpool's Xabi Alonso and also Gareth Barry, of Aston Villa.
However, with both now being cup-tied for Europe until January, the Arsenal manager may again instead look overseas, with Udinese's £8million-rated Switzerland international Gokhan Inler another on the radar of the Arsenal boss.
Captain William Gallas, though, believes Wenger's investment in youth will prove successful, with summer recruit Samir Nasri scoring the winning goal on his debut against the Baggies.
He said: "We are a young side and some more promising youngsters have come through for this season, but they have all got the quality which you need to have if you play for Arsenal.
"If you play at this club you must be ready to play at the very highest level."
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Comment 1 - 7 of 7
ekechukwude no problem Arsene knows.
Contracts mean nothing these days, with their get-out clauses, and buy out laws, so as a long standing gooner of over 45 years and counting,I am not convinced. Adebayor penning a new one doesn't make him a committed Arsenal player. As for the comments regarding the fans getting behind him, he needs to prove he is committed to the club, and show us he is not just another greedy, selfish player. The whole transfer saga issue, made it look like he would have gone to whoever were willing to pay him the highest salary. On the pitch is where us fans need him to convince us....scoring goals and missing fewer chances would be a good start.
Please, i dont know if Mr wenger does read this at all, please we need two good sitting midfielders, that can shoot from outside the box, did you see Nigerian vs Belgium game at the olympics today the whole four goals were scored from outside the box, we need players like paul scouls and nigerian under twenty ones have loads of them.We will go ahead and destroy every team if we have two of this type of players.
So what if he has signed a new contract!They are no longer worth the paper they are writen on. We all know if a player wants to leave, he will. We will go through this all again next summer! By the way, what we really need are defenders, players that can actually defend!
Adebeyor needs to learn a lesson from this and when he feels he deserves a pay rise, do it in private with the manager, the majority of fans will take 4 years to earn what he now gets in a week, if he gets a little stick its what he deserves he should show the fans a little respect, and we keep hearing how many goals he got last year, just imagine how many soneone like David Villa, Santa Cruz or a fit Micheal Owen would get in this Arsenal team, how many easy chances does he miss? From the little Ive seen when Carlos Vella settles he will out score Adebeyor, quality dont leave it too long Arsen or your lose him!
To right!!! he has
frankly if the papers were correct and thoses teams were int6erested in hime we SHOULD have sold him is very very wasteful of chances
The reason he is getting booed is not only because of his antics in the summer. also because The problem for us arsenal fans at hte moment is that he probably the only strong player we have with touch and control but just like a few others in the team he needs seven chances to score one goal!!!!. He is so predictable it is unbelievable. Even the West brom defenders weren't bothered, how is he going to put top class defenders under any pressure?? He has a lot of hard work to do to come any where near to redeeming himself.
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