This is not really accurate. Adebayor has scored goals wherever he has played, and he's played at some pretty impressive clubs. His last stint as a player ended eighteen months ago when he was Spurs' leading scorer and delivered big time for Tim Sherwood who had reinstated him in the Spurs side. If there is a knock on Adebayor, it's that he has always started fast at new clubs, then lost interest once he's secured a long-term contract. In other words, he's motivated by money. But that won't be a problem on a short-term deal at Palace.

What we have to do is weigh the major negative (character, personal motivation) against the positive, which has been described thusly:

This is a player with a full breathtaking range of centre-forward skills at his disposal, who can score any kind of goal against any team. Cast as a target man, he can also play No10 with a rare ability to link and protect the ball, plus that wonderfully frictionless way of moving, slightly menacing on those skinny little fine-point ankles below all that massed and coiled power, scuttling along like a very graceful, frightening robot spider. What an athlete, too! Adebayor’s leap is the stuff of dressing-room legend, an ability to spring honed during his childhood when he would tie a ball to the ceiling and spend hours leaping up to head it. Rumour has it he was even timed quicker than Theo Walcott over the full 100m during his time at Arsenal.

My view is that it's a risk worth taking for the following reasons:

1. If fit, Adebayor is better than any other forward we can sign. Easily.
2. On a four month deal, the risk of his being a disruptive influence is almost zero.
3. We have a strong dressing room that mitigates the risk of Adebayor playing up.
4. If we sign him on a four month deal, rather than panic-spend, we are enabled to buy sensibly and in a more measured way in the summer.
5. He has something to prove and this is his last chance to prove it. That may be motivation enough.
6. If he can pass an interview with Parish and Pardew, two people I trust completely, and they believe he is suitable for Palace then that's good enough for me.
7. Some players settle when they finally find the right club for them. Big clubs haven't suited Adebayor. Maybe being loved at Selhurst and being the centre of attention will enable him to find his niche.

It IS a risk but in my view a risk well worth taking.

Edited by sydtheeagle (06 Jan 2016 1.04pm)

If he came to us, how long do you think it would take for him to get match fit, bearing in mind that he hasn't played a competitive game for a long time and has not done any first-team training for a long time. Did he even have a pre-season? That puts him way off the pace.

This is another concern of mine. It's going to be near the end of the season before we could expect him to be anywhere near top form. Assuming it's going to take 4-6 weeks at best to get him fit enough for the first team and then a run of matches to get sharpness and mojo back, that's April already.

I read that link. I don't believe that anyone is really naive enough to think that 'keeping himself fit' training one-on-one with a personal trainer and the odd charity football match is anything close to training with a PL first team squad and competitive football at the highest level. That just means he's not starting from 0, but he has a bloody long way to go to get to 100%. Look how long it's taken CW to even start looking Premier League class? And that's with training at PL level. And Adebayor is even further behind him.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love a fit and in form Adebayor scoring goals for Palace, on his day he was unplayable, but I don't think he's going to do that based on everything that's been said.