Emmanuel Adebayor has dismissed suggestions he requested a whiskey and smoked a cigarette when discussing a contract offer at Lyon.
The claims, attributed by some outlets to Lyon coach Bruno Genesio, were invented by a satirical website in France.
And Adebayor, who is still without a club after Lyon opted to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta from Championnat National side Chateauroux instead, was keen to put the record straight.
In a statement, he said: "Usually I do not comment on any transfer negotiations or speculation but this time certain matters need to be cleared up.
"Lyon wanted to sign me and offered to pay for a
private jet from Togo to bring me to Lyon in order for me to sign ahead
of their game against Marseille. The contract was all agreed and I was
merely flying in to complete a medical and sign the paperwork.
"Unfortunately,
I could not get there in time to be registered for their game and they
signed another young striker instead. They still asked if I could come
and speak to the manager and director of football in order to establish
if it would be possible to sign us both.
"We
all had a perfectly amicable meeting in Lyon but the coach felt it was
not fair on the young player's development to sign us both and I felt I
would not get the requisite game time I needed to make this opportunity
worthwhile.
"For the avoidance of doubt I only drank water at this meeting and did not ask for whisky or have a cigarette.
"This
was a report that came out of a French newspaper and is not only
ludicrous and ridiculous but was meant as a joke by the journalist. The
statements have been retracted and the journalist is currently drafting
an apology.
"Unfortunately the press in other countries couldn't see that the journalist was being highly sarcastic and rewrote the story."
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