Emmanuel Adebayor: 'Late return not my fault'

Emmanuel Adebayor has insisted that his late return from the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this month was not his fault.

The Tottenham Hotspur striker arrived back in London five days after Togo exited the tournament, less than 24 hours before Spurs faced Newcastle.

The 28-year-old told reporters: "We went out on the Sunday, then we tried to find a plane to go to Togo to see the family and the president. It took us four days to get a plane. On Thursday I had to call the president to tell him we had to leave South Africa.

"That's not my fault, I couldn't do anything. I can't just put something on my body and fly from South Africa to London. I could not just jump on a plane and come back to Tottenham, because the president of the country wanted to see us and congratulate us.

"When Ivory Coast went out of the tournament, the president of the federation sent them a plane to get back. With Togo, it's not the same. You want to think about football but that's not the case with Togo. You have to concentrate on what you are going to eat, where you are going to sleep. That's what I have been doing for the last 10 years."

The Togo captain has previously criticised the way the national team is organised.