Emmanuel Adebayor has risked alienating himself from Arsenal fans following an interview serialised in the Daily Mail where he suggested at this stage in his career, money is all important.

The Togolese striker is asked by the BBC Africa Sports editor, Farayi Mungazi: ‘How important is money to footballers? A lot of them say it is not about the money. Is that true?’ to which the player, heavily linked with a move to AC Milan and Barcelona, replied:

“It is not true, it is about money.”

“You are talking about in life and it is about money. When we are young, of course we played because we loved the game, we play because we were passionate about the game.”

“But now as soon as you reach a stage where you are professional and playing Champions League, after all those things we are talking about money.”

“If it is not because of money, what am I going to be playing for Arsenal for? If it is not because of money I don't think I would go to Arsenal to play. I would stay in my country, I would stay Lome where everyone loves me.”

“If its not because of money, I would not have come to Europe.”

Adebayor has put in a string of below par performances recently and has at times looked disinterested. Last week the former Monaco striker revealed that he is in regularly contact with AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani.