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Emmanuel Adebayor denies drinking whiskey and smoking ahead of Lyon meeting

After leaving Crystal Palace last summer, Emmanuel Adebayor is still on the search for a new club...



Emmanuel Adebayor denies drink...
Soccer

Emmanuel Adebayor denies drinking whiskey and smoking ahead of Lyon meeting

After leaving Crystal Palace last summer, Emmanuel Adebayor is still on the search for a new club.

The 32-year-old was close to signing for Ligue 1 side Lyon, but the transfer fell through at the last moment. Earlier this week, Adebayor claimed he was not signing for Lyon as the team were unwilling to release him for the Africa Cup of Nations. The tournament takes place in Gabon in January and February.

After the transfer fell though, the French satire website Football France claimed that Adebayor tuned up to an interview with Lyon's Bruno Genesio. The Lyon manager was "quoted" as saying; "he arrived he asked for a shot of whisky in his coffee. He also had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth."

On the back of the article in Football France, which was widely picked up by other outlets, Adebayor released a statement claiming he "only drank water at this meeting and did not ask for whisky or have a cigarette".

The Togoan international also revealed that Lyon were looking at himself and another striker, but picked the other player once Adebayor was not able to travel to France as quickly as hoped.

“Unfortunately I could not get there in time to be registered for their game [against Marseille] and they signed another young striker instead. They still asked if I could come and speak to the manager and director of football in order to establish if it would be possible to sign us both."

“We all had a perfectly amicable meeting in Lyon but the coach felt it was not fair on the young player’s development to sign us both and I felt I would not get the requisite game time I needed to make this opportunity worthwhile."

Adebayor remains without a club.

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