We've been here before with Emmanuel Adebayor. He irritates his club, his club punish him, he gets upset and seeks sympathy through the media.

It is a familiar cycle of unfulfilled potential that a 29-year-old should have the maturity to break. Due sympathy must, of course, be afforded Adebayor over the death of his brother, Peter, in July but the trail of trouble that has accompanied his career leads to the conclusion that such compassion should not mask the real problem.

Quite simply, Adebayor has consistently been a pain in the arse. Ask Monaco, where he failed to return from the Ligue 1 winter break at the beginning of 2006 prior to joining up with Togo for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Ask Arsenal, who had to endure a season’s sulking after Adebayor was denied a move to AC Milan in 2008 before joining Manchester City the following summer. Ask Robin van Persie, who suffered a bloodied head as Adebayor looked to make his mark for City in his first game against Arsenal with a stamp that earned him a three-game ban from the Football Association.

Ask Cesc Fabregas, who suffered a three-inch gash on his left calf in the same match. Ask Roberto Mancini, who admittedly suffered strained relationships with several players, but nevertheless was accused by Adebayor of treating him like “a 16-year-old boy” because he used him as a late substitute in a few matches.

And now he is Andre Villas-Boas’s problem. Adebayor was paid £170,000 a week by City. Spurs only offered him £90,000 a week but City agreed to stump up the difference for two years as part of his transfer. That means he is facing a drop back to £90,000 next summer when City’s contribution runs out and will therefore expect Spurs or another club to make up the shortfall or something close.

He just is not worth £170,000 a week anymore. Perhaps he never was. Villas-Boas only agreed to Adebayor’s arrival because of his cut-price £5million fee and a failure to land a series of top targets, chiefly Robert Lewandowski from Borussia Dortmund.

All the baggage is worth it when Adebayor maximises his talents; 17 goals on loan from City two seasons ago enhanced his case no end. But since his permanent move, he scored only five times last season and is yet to play a minute of competitive football in the current campaign.

His critics (and this column is certainly no admirer) argue Adebayor is only motivated when a transfer or a new contract is on the table. The rest of the time his work rate appears desperately lazy.

There has been no indulgence by Villas-Boas. He was criticised for his brash man-management style at Chelsea but Adebayor’s banishment to train with the Spurs youth team is entirely in keeping with his philosophy; he labelled himself ‘the Group One’ upon his unveiling at Stamford Bridge and those not working for the greater good — the team’s development — are swiftly exiled.

However, where Villas-Boas may have softened a little from his time at Chelsea is the offer of redemption for those isolated souls. Ask Michael Dawson, who rejected a £9m move to Queens Park Rangers to stay and fight for his place. Now he wears the captain’s armband.

Whether Adebayor is capable of knuckling down in the same manner is uncertain. It is down to him to prove he is not the mercenary many dismiss him as.

This week, he reflected on the damage to his self-belief after being told to train with the youth team by declaring, “If I am lower than this, it means I am dead”. No one should dismiss the trauma accompanying the death of a family member but only Adebayor can resurrect his career.

Those close to his cabal describe poor advice and distracting hangers-on. They must be banished; if Adebayor can rediscover his focus and train hard, Villas-Boas will surely give him a chance.

After all, there is a marvellous player in there somewhere. And his revival would be beneficial for everyone; Roberto Soldado is clearly a talented player but he has not produced the goal return of a £26m player, while doubts remain over Jermain Defoe’s suitability as a lone striker in Villas-Boas’s preferred 4-2-3-1 system.

Adebayor possesses the physical strength to perform that role and a return to form would boost Spurs’s profligacy in front of goal while advertising his own talents before the club inevitably try and shift him again in January.

He is capable of it. He should be in the prime of his career. But does he want it enough?

Lloris had a lucky escape but rules must be tightened

In Oliver Stone’s excellent film Any Given Sunday, a young doctor rapidly learns from his more experienced counterpart about the flexible interpretation of a player’s health in the midst of the pressures to succeed in sport.

The movie examines the murky side of American Football and in one scene, a player pleads to be passed medically fit despite being one bad blow away from paralysis knowing he is within sight of a $1million bonus that will guarantee the security of his family beyond his playing days.

Even allowing for a large chunk of artistic licence evident in any Hollywood interpretation of sport, the notion of a player willing to risk his health to benefit the team or maintain pre‑eminence in his position is relevant to the debate surrounding Hugo Lloris’s decision to remain on the pitch despite suffering concussion at Everton on Sunday.

The Tottenham goalkeeper has usurped Brad Friedel and established himself as the club’s first choice but his insistence in carrying on is symptomatic of how influential players are in determining whether they are fit to play.

If Lloris insists he is fine and the rules are sufficiently relaxed to dictate he only needs to pass a brief medical check, then Spurs risk upsetting a player by denying him the chance to play.

That is not to say this balance is right or that Lloris is a difficult individual, more to highlight that the lack of firm guidance in this area can afford an opportunity to players desperate to stay in the team and/or collect their bonuses.

As a regular attendee of Arsene Wenger’s press conferences, it is a frequent occurrence to witness the Arsenal manager explain an injury setback by claiming something like “the player told us he was feeling all right” as if to declare that should be enough to sway a judgement call.

That particular player in Any Given Sunday is carried off on a stretcher after receiving a heavy knock, only to reach his $1m prize in the process by denying his opponent.

For him, the risk paid off. Then again, in August, NFL chiefs reached a £480m settlement over brain injuries among 18,000 retired players and now independent consultants conduct a concussion test.

So perhaps a rule change is necessary to ensure players and clubs do not take unnecessary gambles; Lloris was lucky but the next person might not be.

Lee will be dirtiest Premier League player unless Poyet intervenes

Surely we have reached the point where we can describe Lee Cattermole as ‘that kind of player’?

The stock defence of many managers when asked to defend a reprehensible act from one of their own is to dismiss it as an aberration in character.

Cattermole rightly received the seventh red card of his Premier League career in Sunderland’s defeat to Hull last weekend and at 25 years of age, time is on his side in the race to become the Premier League’s dirtiest ever player.

The mere fact he is on course to achieve such an ignominious title so early in his life suggests there is an unsavoury element to his play that new manager Gus Poyet must try to eradicate before Cattermole does some serious damage.