Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has dismissed claims that signing Emmanuel Adebayor is a ‘gamble’, according to the guardian.
The 31-year-old had been a free agent for five months following his release from Spurs, before Palace snapped him up on Tuesday, but Pardew is confident the former Arsenal and Manchester City man will provide the side with some much-needed goals, as well as give the club a lift.
“You sometimes cannot get the kind of quality that Adebayor can bring. We’re very fortunate to have him, I make no bones about that. Our fans should be very optimistic, because I am.” Pardew said
“He’s a character that needs to be loved and the group I have, he’s going to get that. For us it’s about bringing in a striker to give everyone a boost,” he added.
The 54-year-old also confirmed that the striker has signed on a ‘performance based’ contract, which leaves no gamble on Palace’s behalf.
“We’ve incentivized his contract to do that, in terms of him being a success,” said Pardew.
“The only risk is if he doesn’t play well. I can’t see any other risk. I think we discard players quite quickly, and sometimes too early,” he added.
The former Newcastle boss is no stranger to working with so-called ‘difficult’ players, having managed Hatem Ben Arfa and Carlos Tevez in recent years.
Palace fans will be hoping Pardew can get the best out of Adebayor, if the forward can rekindle anywhere the near the form which saw him bag 24 goals in 36 games for Arsenal in 2007/08, it could be one of the signings of the season.
Adebayor is widely expected to make his debut in Tuesday’s home encounter against AFC Bournemouth, these two sides drew 0-0 when they met on Boxing Day in the reverse fixture.
