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Emmanuel Adebayor announces retirement from football at age 39.
Emmanuel Adebayor, a former striker for the Premier League, has announced his retirement from football at the age of 39.
Adebayor played for Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Crystal Palace during his more than 10 years in England. He has already announced his retirement in a bizarre Instagram video.
The short video included footage of his iconic goal for City against his old team Arsenal in 2009, which is undoubtedly the most remembered of his career. He celebrated the score by sprinting across the field in front of the Arsenal fans after it.
Alongside the video, Adebayor posted the caption: ‘SEA, from the highs to the lows, my career as a professional athlete has been an incredible journey.
‘Thank you to my fans for being there every step of the way. I’m feeling so grateful for everything, and excited for what’s to come!’
Adebayor then wrote a message on a piece of paper that read: ‘Thanks for the blessings!!!’
The only two goals Adebayor included in his retirement video were from his time at City.
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The attacker did, however, enjoy some memorable experiences at his past teams, including his 2008 African Footballer of the Year victory at Arsenal.
From 2005 and 2009, he was also named Togo’s Footballer of the Year five times in a row, and the video did feature images of him wearing the flag of his home nation.
In the Togo team bus that was targeted by terrorists in 2010 as it travelled to Angola for the competition, Adebayor was a passenger. In the incident, three individuals died and nine others were wounded.
During his tenure in England, he scored 97 Premier League goals while playing for Spurs, Arsenal, and Man City.
Adebayor spent most of his prime years in England, although he also had brief stays at Real Madrid in 2011 and Metz in France at the beginning of his career.
Adebayor spent time in Madrid after returning to England, spending three years at Tottenham and six months at Palace before relocating to Turkey at the beginning of 2017 to join Istanbul Basaksehir.
He later played for the Turkish team Kayserispor before trying his luck with Olimpia in Paraguay.
After more than two decades as a professional, he has decided to retire from the sport. He completed his career at Semassi in his own country.