All about the money – Emmanuel Adebayor and footballers who followed the cash

Emmanuel Adebayor is apparently threatening to pull the plug on a permanent deal to Tottenham because he is unhappy about having to take a sizeable pay cut.

Last year he said: “We all play football to get money. I’m from Africa and I have to give something back to my community. I will keep doing this until the end of my career,” and while for a moment it looked like he was willing to lower his wage demands, it has been suggested he could instead see out his contract at Man City. Though Adebayor has not said money is ultimately the motivation, others have not been so shy when explaining why they moved clubs.

CHRIS WADDLE
At a time when many footballers were packing their bags and heading across the channel to France, Spurs ace Waddle, prior to his transfer to Marseille in 1989, explained that the hike in pay was the reason for him switching leagues. “I just had to accept because of what it offered my family for the future.” Other players moving to France have included Glenn Hoddle, who went to Monaco in 1987 and Clive Allen to Bordeaux in 1988, both of whom came from Spurs. At Marseille Waddle won three league titles and was a runner-up in the 1991 European Cup final.

GARRY O'CONNOR
When Scottish striker O'Connor moved from Hibs to Lokomotiv Moscow in 2006, he claimed that by the age of 35, he'd like to retire with £10m in the bank in order to set his family up for life. “If I was single and never had Lisa and Josh [fiancee and son] I maybe wouldn't have made the move to Russia. But I signed a five-year contract and I have other ambitions to play in England, Italy, Spain or France.” Fair enough, we thought, until he suggested that if he buckles down and matures into a world class player, he could play for Real Madrid. He wasn't very well liked over there and returned to the UK in 2007 to join Birmingham, explaining that with his 'ridiculous' (in a good way) bonuses in Russia he was able to buy a Ferrari. In June he was sentenced to 200 hours of community service for possessing cocaine and obstructing police shortly before signing for Siberian-based club Tom Tomsk. Clearly he didn't know there'd be roubles ahead...

LUIZ FELIPE SCOLARI
“Finance was one of the reasons, absolutely,” said big Phil when talking to the media shortly after taking over as Chelsea manager on a reported £5m a year contract in June 2008. As well as saying that had it not been for the money he would not have been able to offer his son the opportunities he could, he said: “I'm 59 and I'm going to be 60 soon. I want to work for five, six more years and retire. I always say you only get an opportunity once to take it or leave it.” Sadly for Scolari, he was given the boot by Roman Abramovich in February 2009.

TOMASZ RADZINSKI
On the verge of joining Everton in 2001, the striker said: “They are offering me a wonderful four-year deal, I could earn three times as much as I do now at Anderlecht.” Following his £4.5m transfer from Belgium he spent three years on Merseyside, scoring 26 goals before leaving for Fulham in 2004 and eventually left the UK in 2007 where he signed for Skoda Xanthi in Greece.

WINSTON BOGARDE
Before moving to Chelsea, the Dutchman was a Champions League winner and two-time Eredivisie champion with Ajax and at Barcelona he picked up two La Liga titles and was snapped up by Blues boss Gianluca Vialli in 2000. In four years at Stamford Bridge the defender played just nine times as he constantly resisted attempts by the club to sell him on. At one point PSV were interested in taking him, leading Bogarde to say: “It would be great to play for PSV, but only if they pay my full salary,” claiming that a contract was a contract and he moved to Chelsea because of what was on offer to him at the time. After years of training with the youth team in England - apparently an attempt to get him to leave - he hung up his boots for good upon leaving west London.

Ashley Cole
“When I heard Jonathan repeat the figure of £55,000, I nearly swerved off the road. 'He is taking the piss Jonathan!' I yelled down the phone. I was so incensed. I was trembling with anger. I couldn't believe what I'd heard.” Though Cole said the move from Arsenal to Chelsea was never about money, instead claiming that he sought a fresh challenge, critics have pointed to the disgust just mentioned by the left back over what he thought was Arsenal reneging on a promise of a new and improved contract. The heartache was there for all to see in his autobiography. How dare they not offer him the £60,000 a week he wanted. When he moved to Stamford Bridge in 2006, Cole was rumoured to be earning £90,000.