Emmanuel Adebayor says he takes no joy from the situation at former club Arsenal and insists they must keep hold of Robin van Persie.
Spurs striker believes losing key players has cost Gunners
Emmanuel Adebayor says he takes no joy from the situation at former club Arsenal and insists they must keep hold of star striker Robin van Persie if they want to recover.
The Togo international, currently on loan at Tottenham from Manchester City, has witnessed the Gunners' collapse this season, with Arsene Wenger's men having fallen behind in the Premier League and on the brink of a UEFA Champions League exit.
Adebayor, who left Emirates Stadium for City in 2009 after a successful three-year spell during which he scored 46 goals, believes Arsenal's current position is the result of them losing key players year after year.
The striker fears "disaster" at the club if they let go of Dutch ace Van Persie and insists he takes no pleasure from their predicament ahead of Sunday's North London derby.
Disaster
"Arsenal have unfortunately lost their best players and have needed to merely replace rather than kick on," Adebayor told
The Sun.
"But if they would just give themselves a chance to keep their best players, players like Robin van Persie and then strengthen, they would be a real threat again.
"We can all see that Van Persie is one of the best strikers in the league, in the world, and to lose him would be a massive blow. But to lose him, not to replace properly and to not build up the squad afterwards would be a disaster.
"That would be an Arsenal team without any capacity to even challenge for trophies, let alone win one. That would make me sad. I'm very proud that I played for Arsenal Football Club."
He added: "I swear to you there's no joy for me in seeing Arsenal like this. Just because I play for Spurs now doesn't mean I want to see them struggle.
"I don't. I have a lot of good memories and good friends still at the club but I'm sorry to say the problems are there for all to see and in my opinion there's a simple explanation for it.
"Every year they are losing great players like an Ashley Cole, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas or a Samir Nasri. So every year they desperately try to replace these guys.
"But it is not easy to find another Thierry Henry or Cesc Fabregas as even Arsene Wenger has found out. So that's the problem.
Vicious circle
"In an ideal world you keep those great players and every year add even more quality to the squad.
"That way you improve, that way you move forward, that way you stay competitive. But you can never improve if all you do is try and replace the players that you lose every year and never strengthen.
"It just means there's even less chance of winning trophies, so it all becomes a vicious circle and you lose even more players.
"Because all top players are the same - they want to win things and when they know that's impossible they will look to leave. That's football... "
