The Ade conundrum

With the news that Ade has been omitted from our 25 man PL squad, I guess most Spurs fans are united in saying good riddance. If he is going to deliberately run down his contract and milk us for all we're worth, then he deserves to rot in the reserves. Of course, he's the one who's laughing really as he pockets those millions for doing the grand total of sod all.

But it also seems a good time to reevaluate Ade's time at the club, to try and work out if the good spells (and there were a few) were enough to outweigh the bad; the spells where he just didn't look interested whatsoever or wasn't even available for selection. We broke our wage structure to facilitate him and he most definitely hasn't paid us back, but at the time, in the summer of 2012, I think many Spurs fans were urging the deal to go ahead. It felt like he'd finally found a club to settle at, a club to quell his disruptive personality. The benefit of hindsight, eh?

He is a strange, complex, troubled soul. His off the field issues have to be taken into consideration. Anyone who saw what he did on that Togo bus would be affected, anyone who loses a brother would be forgiven for being off his game for a while. But these spells where he's been off the boil have been far too numerous. It can't be pure coincidence that AVB and Poch have frozen him out.

He seems to need the arm around the shoulder, ego-massaging management style of Redknapp or Sherwood to really function at his best. More than that, he needs a contract being dangled in front of his face or the desire to prove people wrong to really get going.

But he doesn't seem to have that much call for money himself, given how much money he ploughs back into Togo. He has this altruistic, tender side to him that you often see in interviews. I remember a few where he expressed his love for Spurs and it came across as genuine.

At other times, though, he's all too easy to write off as the very worst type of money-grabbing mercenary.

We shouldn't rewrite history, either. When he first arrived at the club, he was sensational. He was a major part of the team that was being tipped as title challengers as late as January. He was fired-up, strong and fast; a menace to defenders and a cool, clinical finisher. But we should have seen the inevitable tail-off coming. At Arsenal, City & Real Madrid, it had been the same. An early spell where he looked absolutely unplayable, followed by a spell where he looked like a Sunday League player. And worse still, a lazy, complacent, half-ar#ed Sunday League player.

Even in that first season with us his form started to go off the boil from Jan onwards. I remember one game against Watford in the FA Cup where he was absolutely woeful. But because of his initial impact and his match-winning contributions, it made sense for us to sign him in that summer of 2012. It was a risk, a major gamble, but it seemed like one worth taking.

How wrong we were. He barely turned up in AVB's first season in charge, other than a spectacular display against Chelsea (scored a worldie, set up Siggy's equaliser). But he also got himself sent off against Arsenal with a moment of petulant stupidity and was absolutely terrible in too many games - no fight, no commitment, awful in the air, dreadful first touch, terrible finishing. The nadir was that execrable penalty against Basel.

Then came the short-lived renaissance under Sherwood. Scored in his first game back against West Ham and then just kept scoring, goal after goal. He was reborn, back to his very best, an inspiration. Even in this breathtaking spell, he could still be incredibly frustrating.

When Sherwood was replaced by Poch, it all went wrong again. A disrupted pre-season thanks to his brother's death and other off-the-field issues led to a very average start to the season. He scored a few goals but was generally poor. Maybe he was scapegoated at times, but he didn't look bothered or motivated, he didn't look like he cared. Poch quickly worked out he couldn't trust him. Eventually he heeded the calls to drop Ade and replace him with Kane. Ade has been barely seen since, other than stories about curses from his mum and voodoo and all other sorts of oddness.

So, I guess the question is this. Is Ade a misunderstood genius who only turns it on when he fancies it? Is he a great player who has a terrible attitude which means he doesn't make the most of his ability? Is he an average player capable of short spells of greatness? Or is he a sly, money-grabbing charlatan who can perform like a superstar when playing for a new contract, but other than that is lazy, complacent, overrated and not half as good as he thinks he is?

He's played for Arsenal, City, Madrid and Spurs. He's scored some wonderful goals along the way. But he'll probably be remembered as a disruptive, egotistical, self-centred mercenary.

Has all the baggage been worth it for those short spells when he really turned it on?