• Adebayor seeking to reignite his career in the Premier League • Striker has played 17 minutes of league football since January 2015

Emmanuel Adebayor is considering the offer of contracts until the end of the season from Watford and Crystal Palace, as he looks to reignite his career in the Premier League.

The 31-year-old striker has been without a club since last September, when his deal at Tottenham Hotspur was terminated by mutual agreement, after he endured a dramatic fall from grace. But he has been keeping fit with the help of a personal trainer and he wants a return to action this month.

Adebayor is keen to remain in London, where he has a house in Golders Green, and so the proposals of Watford and Palace tick one box for him. Quique Sánchez Flores, the Watford manager, has previously refused to rule out a move for him and it is understood that the basic offer on the table from the club is more lucrative than that from Palace.

Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo have excelled as a partnership over the first half of the season, but the club would like to add quality cover.

Palace’s offer is heavily incentivised and it also contains a break clause that would be triggered in the event of Adebayor breaching any of the club’s disciplinary rules.

Alan Pardew, the manager, is keen to add a striker before the end of the window, as he is painfully aware that his current crop have contributed only one league goal this season – and that was a penalty, scored by Connor Wickham. Wickham has struggled with injury – he is currently out with a calf problem – and Dwight Gayle is unavailable because of hamstring trouble.

“We’ve been happy with Wickham and if we can keep him and Gayle fit, and get Marouane Chamakh up to speed, we will be OK,” Pardew has said. “But we are still looking at the market to see if there is anything with a bit of value.”

Palace, who have failed to score in their past three matches, have also spoken to representatives of the Fiorentina striker Khouma Babacar.

It remains to be seen how quickly Adebayor would be able to shake off the cobwebs. Fitness is one thing but match fitness quite another, and he has barely played since he lost his place in the Tottenham team in November 2014. He featured only five times after that over the second half of last season, and only once in the starting lineup.

Adebayor had a proposed loan to West Ham United blocked last February and, before the closure of the summer window, when he was again a target for West Ham, he insisted that Tottenham paid up his contract in full – a sum of £5m – enabling him to move as a free agent. Tottenham refused.

Adebayor had spent the summer training away from Mauricio Pochettino’s first team and, after the window shut, he was excluded from the 25-man Premier League squad the manager submitted. Shortly afterwards, Adebayor reached the settlement on his contract.

Palace’s next home fixture is against Tottenham on 23 January.