text: A few weeks ago, some members of Tottenham’s ground staff thought the club’s principal owner Joe Lewis had arrived for an impromptu visit to the training ground when a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe pulled into the car park. Lewis is an infrequent visitor to England, exiled for tax and lifestyle purposes in the Bahamas, where he conducts much of his business on his enormous yacht. Results on the pitch had taken a bit of a downturn and there was an air of anticipation when the driver got out to open the door for his wealthy passenger. Emmanuel Adebayor pictured on his last start for Tottenham against Aston Villa back in early November . Adebayor travelled in style to training earlier this year in a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe . AGE: 31 . NATIONALITY: Togo . CLUBS . Mets (2001-2003):  53 appearances, 19 goals . Monaco (2003-2006): 115 apps, 26 goals . Arsenal (2006-2009): 142 apps, 62 goals . Man City (2009-2012): 45 apps, 19 goals . Real Madrid (2011): 22 apps, 8 goals . Tottenham (2011-): 106 apps, 41 goals . HONOURS . Monaco - Champions League runner-up (2003-04) Real Madrid - Copa del Rey (2010-11) It was then that the grinning figure of Emmanuel Adebayor emerged, throwing sand in the face of his employers with another outlandish display of his extravagant lifestyle. He went on to train as normal with the first team, while his driver waited in the Rolls before returning the forward to his London home shortly after Mauricio Pochettino had finished the morning session. Since Adebayor’s last start in the Barclays Premier League for Tottenham, when he was dragged off the pitch after 58 minutes at Aston Villa on November 2, he has pocketed £3.4million in wages. It was that day at Villa Park when Harry Kane came on as a substitute, scoring his first Premier League goal of the season for Spurs and diving, Jurgen Klinsmann-style, in front of the travelling fans after he scored the winner. By then Adebayor had taken his seat on the bench after one of the most listless, lifeless displays of his entire career. That day he had just 32 touches of the ball and none of them were good. On the bad days at Spurs, when he is in a particularly confrontational mood, he tells people that he is only prepared to leave Tottenham if they can fix a move to Real Madrid or Chelsea. He played for Real once before, a short-term solution for Jose Mourinho during his spell at the Bernabeu, and he has always craved the chance to play for Chelsea. This has not been a good year. He has scored just twice - in the 4-0 victory over QPR on August 24 and the defeat by Newcastle on October 26 - under their new head coach. Adebayor has spent a large chunk of the campaign on the substitutes' bench for Tottenham . Adebayor's last goal was against Newcastle in October - one of only two scored this season . This is the final year that Manchester City will make a contribution to his salary, topping up his £100,000-a-week wages at White Hart Lane with another £70,000 each week as part of the deal that took him south. They, like Tottenham, did not get their money’s worth out of him either. His last appearance for Pochettino was as a substitute on March 15, sent on to the pitch at Old Trafford when the team were already 3-0 down against Manchester United. He has no future at Spurs. Last season, Tim Sherwood made a point of saying his job was ‘to manage men’ when Adebayor went through something of a renaissance under the former Tottenham head coach. Getting him off the wage bill this summer will be a problem, with Spurs in hock to him for one final year on £100,000 a week until his contract expires on June 30, 2016. Talks aimed at removing him from the list of players on the club’s wage bill are already underway, but Adebayor will not go easily. Naturally, like anyone else in his position, he will want his money. This could have been solved in February, when West Ham came to the table with an offer to take the forward on loan for the rest of the season. Darren Dein, son of former Arsenal vice president David, was brokering a deal that gave West Ham, Adebayor and Tottenham the option to make his move permanent. Throw in the £75,000 a week the Hammers were willing to contribute to his complicated salary and it looked like pretty good business for Tottenham . Adebayor did have something of a renaissance under former Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood (right) Adebayor, pictured during a session, turned up at training in a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe . Harry Kane (left) has 30 goals in all competitions for Tottenham this season . Daniel Levy’s intransigence on the issue is well known, highlighted by David Gold’s tweet - ‘no matter how hard you try there are some people out there that you just can’t do business with’ - when the deal collapsed. In recent weeks Adebayor has been named a substitute on occasion, making up the numbers on the bench because of an injury to another troubled forward, Roberto Soldado. The thing with Adebayor is that it is not all bad, despite goading his employers with pictures on his Instagram account when he is goofing around at home when his team are travelling for a Europa League tie. He is capable of extreme acts of generosity, such as the house he rented out in Rio de Janeiro for all his friends and their girlfriends last summer during the World Cup. Adebayor footed the bill for the lot. As ever, though, Adebayor’s clubs will continue to pay the biggest price.
target: Emmanuel Adebayor is behind Harry Kane and Roberto Soldado at Spurs .
  Adebayor last appeared for Tottenham in 3-0 defeat at Man United in March .
  Tottenham are keen to get rid of the striker who earns £170,000 a week .
  West Ham tried to sign Adebayor in January but deal did not go through .