Tottenham can cope without Adebayor, says Villas-Boas

By Ben Pearce, Tottenham correspondent Thursday, January 10, 2013
3:27 PM

Andre Villas-Boas believes Tottenham can cope without Emmanuel Adebayor when he departs for the Africa Cup of Nations, and insists the club have no plans to bring in a replacement forward in January.

Adebayor will depart for the tournament in South Africa after Saturday’s match against QPR – but Villas-Boas feels he has enough striking options to cover for the 28-year-old’s absence.

“We’ve been pretty happy with the team and what we have available, with the options that we have,” said the head coach.

“We understand that we can put ourselves in a difficult decision if we don’t add one more striker - if one of the strikers get injured, between Jermain Defoe and Clint Dempsey - but we’ve been in this situation before when Ade was injured, and we managed to go through it. To be fair, it’s not that great an amount of time that we lose Adebayor.

“Of course we lose him for a couple of important games but I think we’re able to cope with it. I don’t think we’re going to do anything [in the transfer market].”

Adebayor yesterday seemed to suggest that he is going to the Africa Cup of Nations without Villas-Boas’ blessing, stating that the head coach’s public messages of support contrasted with their private discussions behind the scenes.

In an interview with africatopsports.com, which was also published on the Togo Football Federation’s website, Adebayor said: “That is what he [Villas-Boas] said to the press, but not what he said to me. There is a difference between what you say to the press and what you say in private.”

Asked to respond today, Villas-Boas said: “The conversations that I had with the player are obviously private and not for discussion. What I’ve told him is that we’ve been waiting for his decision patiently and if the players has to go he goes, and if he stays he stays. That is the end of the story.”

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