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Napoli talking to former Tottenham Hotspur striker Emmanuel Adebayor?

Napoli are reportedly in talks to sign the former Spurs striker on a free transfer.

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With the winter transfer window fast approaching, Napoli are undoubtedly going over a lot of options. There are going to be a lot of players on the market, and Napoli need to improve their depth in a few different areas. One of those areas will likely be on the front line, a position that they're apparently helping will be bolstered by former Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City striker Emmanduel Adebayor.

Napoli are reportedly in talks with Adebayor's agency regarding signing the striker on a free transfer in January. He turns 32 in February, and was released by Tottenham in September after failing to secure a regular role in Mauricio Pochettino's side. Despite his more recent struggles, though, he was Spurs' leading scorer two years ago with 14 goals, and four years ago scored 18 for the London club. Adebayor's skill level has never really been in question during his career, but the Togo international's motivation and commitment has been in doubt at times, with his career going through wild and inconsistent swings of form.

One potential wrinkle for Napoli signing Adebayor is money, because he's been making a lot of it the last few years. In fact, he's still getting paid over €140,000 per week by Tottenham until he signs with a new team as part of his release agreement with the English club. That's a lot of money for a hot-and-cold striker -- hell, that's a lot of money period -- and it's not a figure Napoli will be remotely willing to meet, especially for a player who's going to be a backup in Naples.

That said, if Napoli can negotiate a lower wage for Adebayor, signing him makes a lot of sense. The partenopei need better attacking depth, and he would represent an excellent reserve option for Gonzalo Higuain, and would allow Maurizio Sarri to utilize Manolo Gabbiadini's versatility to play on the wings more often, helping spell Jose Callejon.

There's a lot of reason to like the idea of signing Adebayor both player-wise and in terms of how he'd fit into the team. There's just two lingering questions that would need to be answered: how much do Napoli need to pay him, and can they keep him motivated enough to play well? If the answers are "not a painful amount" and "hell yes," then sign him up. If not, then maybe Napoli will need to figure out a better option.