Emmanuel Adebayor has been granted indefinite compassionate leave by Tottenham Hotspur after a close relative of the striker fell seriously ill.
Tottenham announced on Wednesday that Adebayor had been allowed to withdraw from the club’s Europa League squad for Thursday night’s game against Besiktas in Turkey and fly home due to "personal reasons".
Telegraph Sport understands that Adebayor asked for permission to travel to Ghana, where he has a home, after learning that a close family member was extremely ill and Spurs have described the situation as a “private matter.”
It is currently unclear exactly how long Adebayor will be away for, but he is unlikely to return in time to face Swansea City on Sunday and could even miss part of the busy Christmas programme.
Adebayor’s family situation is extremely complex. He has been involved in a bizarre row that has seen his older brother Kola and sister Maggie claim the 30-year-old has accused his mother of using witchcraft against him.
A short statement from Tottenham read: “We can confirm that Emmanuel Adebayor has been given permission to return home for personal reasons. This is a private matter and so we will not be providing any further comment.”
The Togo international was also given a spell of compassionate leave by former club Manchester City in 2010 following a deadly gun attack on the national team bus at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Having suffered a disappointing season in front of goal, Adebayor has not played for Tottenham since the November international break when Togo failed to qualify for next year’s tournament.
After the 2-1 defeat at home to Stoke City at the start of last month, he was forced to explain perceived criticism of Tottenham’s home support. Adebayor has also been hit by accusations that he angered team-mates by laughing and joking with opposition players after the White Hart Lane loss to Newcastle United in October.
Adebayor is contracted to Spurs until 2016 and is unlikely to be pushed out of the club in January.
Manchester City were forced to pay Adebayor after he joined Tottenham to cover the £175,000-a-week wages he earned at Eastlands. That agreement stopped once the two years remaining on Adebayor’s City contract ran out this summer, but he still earns around £100,000-a-week at White Hart Lane which is unlikely to be matched elsewhere.
Adebayor is said to have struck up a good early relationship with head coach Mauricio Pochettino and was surprisingly made one of the club’s vice captains for the season.
But, like a lot of the team, Adebayor’s form has not been good and he has slipped behind Harry Kane and Roberto Soldado in Pochettino’s pecking order in recent weeks.
Chairman Daniel Levy will be keen for the former Arsenal man not to become a political hot potato for the club again.
Levy was forced to intervene in a bitter row between Adebayor and former head coach Andre Villas-Boas, which started over the striker’s refusal to take off a hat at a team meeting.
Having trained with the reserves, Adebayor was forced to stand on a raised platform and apologise for his behaviour to shocked team-mates by Villas-Boas.
The uneasy truce did not last long, however, and the fall-out with Adebayor was one of the reasons behind Villas-Boas being sacked last December.
