Arsene Wenger: I never wanted Adebayor return

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger never considered bringing Emmanuel Adebayor back to the Emirates Stadium.

The Togo international was sold by Wenger to Manchester City for £25m in 2009.

He made a strong start to life in Manchester, but quickly fell out of favour and was loaned out to Real Madrid and then Tottenham Hotspur.

Until this year, Adebayor was the last Arsenal player to reach the 20-goal mark in the Premier League. Despite this, and the 28-year-old being made available to leave the Etihad Stadium last summer, Wenger explained that he never had any interest in re-signing the forward.

"I never thought about bringing him back because it is not right to sell a player to a club and then get him back on loan. It does not make sense," said Wenger, who resigned club-hero Thierry Henry on a short-term loan last month.

"Buying Adebayor does not make sense either. Once you move forward, you move forward. You cannot sell a player and then buy him again. Anyway, we had strikers. We had Chamakh, Park and Van Persie."

Adebayor, who will face Arsenal in a Lilywhite shirt today, scored eight goals against Spurs during his three years as a Gunner.