Free agent Emmanuel Adebayor has slammed Lyon and the club s coach Bruno Genesio for pulling out of a move to sign him, describing their explanation as a ridiculous excuse .
The Togo striker, who last played for Crystal Palace, flew in for talks with Genesio on Friday after the boss at Parc OL had indicated a deal was close to completion.
However, Lyon announced they had decided to back out of the move on Saturday, citing Adebayor s involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations next year and his ineligibility for the Champions league group stage as their reasons.
But the 32-year-old – formerly of Metz, Monaco, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham and Real Madrid – hit out at that statement, saying he felt shocked by his treatment and some strange questioning from Genesio at their meeting.
Adebayor was stunned by the alleged AFCON issue, telling L Equipe: They said that? That s nonsense. They came to me after we had qualified, so they knew I was going to play.
If they start looking for such excuses, they will kill themselves. I m the captain of my country, so how could I not go? What if a Frenchman refused to play in the Euros?
OL spoke to Claude Le Roy, my coach with Togo, and they didn t ask for special treatment. This was absolutely never a reason there was no deal.
I found out [they had pulled out] on Saturday morning. Claude Le Roy told me he had seen it in L Equipe. I called my agent who more or less confirmed it to me.
Terms were agreed on Tuesday. Lyon wanted to send me a private jet to Lome [the capital of Togo]!
I couldn t leave the same evening because Lome is not Paris – there are not flights every 30 minutes. I had things to sort on Wednesday, too. So I arrived on Friday morning at 10:30 to speak to the coach. I thought it was just a medical then to sign.
Even if I wasn t in the squad, I would ve gone to Marseille to support the team and see how they play.
Adebayor claims he realised the expected transfer was not a done deal when Genesio embarked on a strange line of enquiry about the player s private life.
The coach asked me surprising questions, he said.
He wanted to know if I was married, if I had a kid. But all he needed to do was look online.
He asked me how I would speak to the young players in case they were struggling, in which role I saw myself. This is how I know there was not already an agreement on a contract.
I ve been playing at the highest level for 15 years and I have worked with some of the best coaches in the world – [Arsene] Wenger, [Jose] Mourinho, [Didier] Deschamps, [Roberto] Mancini.
He asked me why it didn t work at Crystal Palace. I told him that I ve always played for teams aiming for the English title or a European title. It s the first time I ve been in a team battling relegation and the play didn t suit me.
What s more, he s scared of Florian Maurice [Lyon s director of recruitment]. I asked to see around the ground to soak up the atmosphere but he said he d have to speak to Florian. Imagine Wenger asking someone if he could give me a tour of the Arsenal training centre.
I think the Champions League win against [Dinamo] Zagreb changed things. There s a little disappointment obviously because I really liked Lyon, like I said to the coach. If they didn t want me, why did they make a ridiculous excuse?
But I m stronger than that in my head. I could have died in 2010, so nothing can touch me today, he added, referring to a terrorist attack on the Togo team bus at the AFCON in Angola six years ago.
I will move onto something else, even if this was a really funny chapter.
