Emmanuel Adebayor, the Togolese striker who has endured his fair share of ups and downs, is at a fascinating point in his career. His career in England looks almost dead as his tenure with current club Manchester City has grown sour. He is now out of favor with Mancini, and the same negative feelings are likely shared by City.

After starting out well at Eastlands, his form started to dip which eventually led to him being dropped as a starter. In short order, the likes of Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli were chosen ahead of him. By January, Manchester City had no immediate need for him and had no choice but to let him go out on loan. Adebayor signed with Real Madrid for the rest of the season and had a mini-resurgence with the club after scoring 8 goals in 22 appearances.

Unfortunately for Adebayor, the season ended and he had to return to Manchester. It didn’t take long for things to turn ugly as he was denied being a part of the summer tour and was instead expected to show up to training with the rest of the squad. That’s where all hell broke loose as Adebayor realized that City had moved on without him even though he hadn’t been sold yet.

The situation is only more frustrating for Adebayor because all he wants is to do is get back to Real Madrid. Playing for Jose Mourinho seemed to have had an inspirational effect on a player who has grown out of favor with both Arsenal and Manchester City. “If he (Mourinho) called me right now, I would catch the first plane out to Los Angeles and if I could play three or four years in Madrid, I would retire with the club. He is the best coach I’ve worked with. No doubt about it, and Madrid will win titles with him.”

However, he is still stuck at Manchester City because the club cannot reach a permanent agreement with Real Madrid. City’s price tag of 14 million euros is too much for anyone including Mourinho who wants to settle for much less. For City, they are trying to cover their losses after spending over 25 million to get him. Adebayor has become a symbol of the fault of City’s rampant spending in the past couple of years.

Meanwhile, the Togolese forward has risked up to 300,000 euros by refusing to participate in training. He has taken shots at the lack of a backbone City has shown by not being up front with him about his status on the team. A week after Adebayor’s comments, Mancini didn’t seem to mind telling Sky Sports that he’d be happy to see Adebayor go. Just like Craig Bellamy’s fallout, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Mancini doesn’t seem to have the best communication skills with all his players. Just look at the Carlos Tevez situation.

In my mind, I feel Adebayor still has great value at the club. With the future of Carlos Tevez in serious doubt, Manchester City’s only other options are youngsters Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli and out of favor players Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz. Of course, there is still more than a month left for City to flex their financial muscle and find another high profile addition. Still, Emmanuel Adebayor showed with Real Madrid that he hasn’t lost his form and can still play well. It would make sense to hold on to Adebayor in order to take some pressure off Dzeko and Balotelli.

At the end of the day, it looks like both Adebayor and City are feeling the side effects of his big money transfer. Because of his antics, recent inconsistent play, and absurdly high weekly wages, Adebayor will not receive much support from the public at least in England. Even though he has been recently linked with Tottenham, Adebayor probably feels his best option is to stay strong and hold out until he can get his desired move back to Madrid even if it takes the whole summer for the deal to go through. In his eyes, the only person that seems to still believe in him is Jose Mourinho. “He gave me confidence and made me believe in myself and I enjoyed my football again.”