Arsene Wenger Persuaded Me To Leave Arsenal - Emmanuel Adebayor

By Jonny Esthero

Former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor has claimed that manager Arsene Wenger influenced his decision to leave the north London club for Manchester City, whilst defending his actions that drew widespread criticism when the sides met at Eastlands last month.

The Togo international believed that he would have dropped down the Arsenal pecking-order had he stayed, leaving him with little choice but to look elsewhere.

He told CNN: "When I had a good discussion with the boss, I realized that what he was trying to tell me was that if I stayed, I would not have a chance to play."

When he met his former side last month, Adebayor was banned for three matches for kicking Arsenal's Robin van Persie in the face and fined £25,000 with a suspended two game ban for running the length of the pitch and goading the Arsenal fans after scoring during the same game.

The Manchester City striker has now claimed that the actions of his former team-mates and of the Arsenal fans were to blame.

He said: "When I got to the tunnel and saw my friends I tried to shake their hands ... but they didn't want to shake my hand and it was a shock.

"I felt very hurt. After that I thought 'Ok that's part of life and you just have to deal with it.'

"After that when I got on the pitch and heard some fans singing, insulting my dad, insulting my mum ... we have all got our limit.

"Then I had to respond.

He concluded: "There was no better way to respond than to score a goal against them."