'Arsenal has been great for Adebayor'

'Arsenal has been great for Adebayor'


By Chris Harris

Arsène Wenger believes that Emmanuel Adebayor will eventually look back fondly on his Arsenal career.

The Togo striker was on the fringe of the Monaco side when he joined Arsenal in January 2006. He broke into Wenger's first-team when Thierry Henry departed a year later but left Emirates Stadium for Manchester City during the summer.

Adebayor hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when his new club beat Arsenal at Eastlands on Saturday. He scored in City's 4-2 win but was hit with a double FA charge, one for sprinting the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of Arsenal's travelling supporters and another for an alleged stamp on Robin van Persie.

Wenger backed the FA charges and admitted that he was surprised at Adebayor's "animosity" towards his former club. The Frenchman predicted that the 25-year-old would one day see his spell in North London in a better light.

"My thought is that Emmanuel Adebayor deserves to be charged for what he did," said Wenger.
"I was surprised that there was such animosity in his attitude towards Arsenal because in a few years he will realise that Arsenal has been great for him. That’s why I was deeply surprised and shocked. "Only he can say if he will regret leaving. All I can say is that is life and professional football players move on.

"In life, the goal is to be objective enough to see who helped you and who didn’t help you, who had a positive influence on you or not. You can sometimes in a short-term be disappointed. But still I believe that when you take distance with the events, you always get to the right judgement.

"I think the longer distance will make Adebayor realise that Arsenal was a very positive influence in his life."