Ex-Tottenham star bemused by AVB’s treatment of Emmanuel Adebayor

Andre Villas-Boas paid the price for not trusting Tottenham Hotspur striker Emmanuel Adebayor, according to ex-Spurs star Terry Gibson.

Villas-Boas, who was sacked last month, left the Togo forward on the fringes of his squad for much of the 2013-14 campaign despite Roberto Soldado’s goal-scoring woes for the north London side.

It’s just a mystery why he wasn’t involved more and at the time Tottenham weren’t scoring a lot of goals

Terry Gibson

And Gibson, who made 18 appearances for Spurs, backed Tim Sherwood’s decision to bring Adebayor back into the fold after the 29-year-old scored three goals in five games in all competitions.

“It can be tough on Adebayor sometimes. It’s easy to get a reputation and it’s really hard to shake it off,” Gibson told talkSPORT.

“He has this reputation of where we hear all the jokes like, ‘oh his contract’s up or he must be playing for a move.’ He’s a good player, he’s played for good clubs; Monaco, Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid.

“He’s a quality player and it did seem strange that Villas-Boas wasn’t using him.

“He leads the line as well because he’s a big old player. It’s just a mystery why he wasn’t involved more and at the time Tottenham weren’t scoring a lot of goals.

“They’ve had their problems, this season in particular, but as soon as Tim Sherwood got the job he had no doubt in bringing him back in straight away and it’s clear for everybody to see that he should have played more games under Villas-Boas.”