Adebayor axed from Togo team

Togo coach Tom Saintfiet has said he will not pick Emmanuel Adebayor any longer after the Tottenham Hotspur striker failed to report for international duty last week.

Adebayor, who has been left out of Spurs' Premier League and Europa League squads, was selected in the Togo squad to face Djibouti last Friday, but did not turn up for the game.

Saintfiet said Adebayor had failed to respond regarding last week's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier – which Togo won 2-0 – when all he had to do was send a text message or an email, and his patience has now run out.

"If you are dating a woman who does not want to respond positively, then you must look for another woman," said Saintfiet.

Saintfiet also revealed that Adebayor had expressed his disappointment that he was overlooked for the captaincy after playing and scoring in a qualifying win against Liberia in June.

Adebayor, 31, has been told by Tottenham that he will not play for the club again and has been training with the development squad all summer. He is in the final year of his contract and is still being paid £100,000 a week.

Tottenham wanted him sold in the transfer window but he failed to agree to moves to Aston Villa or West Ham because he wanted a £5m pay-off – 10 months of his contract paid up in full – which Spurs were not prepared to do.