Arsene Wenger has hit back at Tony Adams’ recent comments about the manager not allowing him to coach at Arsenal by pointing out that no player, no matter how successful they were at that club, has a divine right to return.
- Adams is currently manager of Granada, who have just been relegated from La Liga
- Former defender claims Wenger can’t coach
- Wenger admits he’s sad that Adams feels this way
Tony Adams’ new book, Sober, is set to be released on 1 June, with large extracts being serialised in the S*n during the run-up.
One such extract claims that Wenger would never have the former defender back at the club in a coaching role because a) Adams was too big a personality and b) the Frenchman can’t coach.
The boss was, naturally, asked about this ahead of Arsenal’s final matchday clash against Everton.
Wenger admitted that while it’s sad that Adams has felt the need to make these comments so publicly, no player, no matter how much of a legend they were during their playing days, has a right to return to the club.
“He can show what he can do now. Who gives importance to that? I know him for a long time. It’s sad,” he said.
“I am respectful to everybody. I don’t have anything to say about that. For me it’s a subject of no interest.
I would like to dedicate my time to something that is more interesting.
“Look, in a football club today, you have to employ people who can help you to be successful.
“And sometimes it is to make harsh decisions. Just because you have made a career as a player somewhere, it doesn’t give you any divine right to come back. That’s what it is.
“Because all the players, at some stage, they decide to leave, when their interest was to leave.
“It is not like some players have never left the club. When it was their interest to go somewhere else, they went somewhere else.
“I think if I leave tomorrow Arsenal Football Club I have no right to come back, because I have worked here. You have to be needed.
“We had him here to work for a while with the youth team. He decided to go to China and now he is in Granada.”