Emmanuel Adebayor To Join Manchester City?

Last week, a mock Michael Owen-esque brochure surfaced. Created by Arsenal fans, the subject was Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

'He is better than Marlon Harewood and Mido put together,' and 'Football teams need goals. Scientists have proved that Adebayor + Wages + Bonus + Monogrammed Car Seats = Goals.' it boasted of the front man, tongue firmly in cheek.

Under 'Brand Values' Adebayor was listed as 'Jazzy,' 'Highfalutin,' 'Tall,' and even 'Not Small'.

Mark Hughes may well have caught a look and liked what he read, because today, Manchester City entered into talks with Arsenal to sign Adebayor, reportedly for a fee of £20 million.

Gunners manager Arsene Wenger had initially planned on keeping 'Ade' in north London; "At the moment his future is at the Club. He has a long contract and we want to keep him at the Club. I am hopeful I will be able to keep him.” said the Frenchman when asked about the 25-year-old.

So why the apparent u-turn from monsieur Wenger? Well, it has recently been made clear by the higher-ups at Arsenal that they simply will not be able to compete in an overly-inflated transfer market this summer. A board meeting last week saw Uzbek shareholder Alisher Usmanov's plans to raise transfer funds rejected, and many an Arsenal supporter has been left wondering if they really will be leapfrogged by the blue side of Manchester. £20 million could go some way to helping Wenger bring in one or two new faces, not necessarily as replacements for the Togo international; Arsenal's need for another Vieira - or even Gilberto Silva or Mathieu Flamini - has been made abundantly clear over the past couple of seasons.

Where Adebayor fits in the grand scheme of the Eastlands revolution at City meanwhile remains to be seen, with Roque Santa Cruz already settled in and Carlos Tevez reportedly days away from being announced as a fully-fledged Citizen. Add the diminutive Brazilian Robinho to the equation and 'Sparky' has himself an embarrassment of riches. Should the deal go ahead, it will surely spell the end of first-team action for Felipe Caicedo, Ched Evans and Craig Bellamy, who arrived in Manchester only six months ago.

Emmanuel Adebyaor became a source of constant frustration for Arsenal fans last season as many bemoaned his inability to convert the amount of chances carved out for him by the Gunners' slick passing style. Should the transfer go through, the authors of that extremely funny brochure will have got their wish. The Emirates faithful will be hoping they're sitting in fourth position at the end of May, though; not Adebayor, looking down on them from his mountain of cash.