The unique reason which stopped Emmanuel Adebayor signing for Aston Villa

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There are plenty of stories in footballing history about transfer deals falling through at the last minute.

David De Gea’s proposed move to Real Madrid from Manchester United was halted due to a dodgy fax machine, while Jack Grealish was supposed to sign for Tottenham, but Aston Villa’s takeover stopped that transfer going through.

Aston Villa were fortuitous in that situation as Grealish stayed at the club, helped them to promotion and eventually moved to Manchester City for £100m.

However, Villa haven’t always had the best of luck in these situations, and back in 2015, one of their last-minute transfer plans fell through for a very bizarre reason.

Indeed, Villa had planned to sign Emmanuel Adebayor late in that transfer window, but the Togolese striker turned Villa down for a strange reason.

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Why Emmanuel Adebayor turned down Aston Villa

Back in 2015, Aston Villa had seemingly agreed a deal to sign Emmanuel Adebayor from Tottenham.

Adebayor had even done a medical at the club.

However, Adebayor had been told by a higher-power that a move to Aston Villa would’ve been a mistake.

Indeed, Micah Richards shared this story on The Rest is Football Podcast.

“There’s a story at Aston Villa, when we got rid of Benteke – he was always going to go, he was on fire at the time. We got Adebayor, he came and he did his medical, all but signed the papers,” Richaards said.

“There’s even a picture of him with the shirt, but the reason he didn’t sign was that he had a dream that he was making the wrong decision. A higher power told him that he was making the wrong move to come to Aston Villa, so he didn’t turn up the next day.”

Tim Sherwood told a similar story on TalkSPORT as he said Adebayor already knew what the outcome would be if he signed for Villa.

“I went to Aston Villa and tried to take him there, and I knew that the hierarchy didn’t want to have him. Benteke left, and we needed to take this boy. I brought him to the training ground, he travelled up there, but what he told me he could’ve told me on the phone. He said Tim I’ve spoken to my pastor and a few people back in Africa and unfortunately I know the outcome. I’m going to decline the offer to come to the club,” Sherwood said.

What Emmanuel Adebayor did after failed Aston Villa move

Adebayor believed he knew that a move to Aston Villa would be a mistake, and he wasn’t wrong.

Villa were relegated that season, and anyone who watched that team play will tell you that swerving a move to Villa was one of Adebayor’s best career moves.

Villa didn’t miss out too much either as Adebayor was past his best by that point.

Adebayor was a top player in his pomp, but by 2015, he was on his way down.

Indeed, the striker ended up at Crystal Palace that summer, and he had a dreadful time of it at Selhurst Park.

Adebayor didn’t score a single goal for Palace during his time at the club, and while he played well under Tim Sherwood at Tottenham, he probably wouldn’t have saved Aston Villa in the 2015/16 season.