THE pause was long. And deliberate.

Emmanuel Adebayor couldn't look me in the eye.

The question, frank and direct, obviously startled him.

I repeated myself: 'Emmanuel, are you leaving Arsenal?'

He still didn't answer.

'Are you thinking about it?' I ventured.

Finally, he looked up, stared me in the eye and said: 'I don't know, man. I really don't know. I want to stay. But do Arsenal want me to stay? Does the club value me enough for me to stay?'

It was clear Adebayor was hurting inside. The outspoken 24-year-old was trembling as he said it; the chains on his neck jangling as he quivered with emotion.

Sitting at the visitors' room of Arsenal's London Colney training ground, the Gunners' top-scorer with 24 goals this season shared his anguish in an exclusive interview with The New Paper.

'There is only one thing on my mind after the season ends. I need to sort out my contract as soon as possible,' said Adebayor, who has three years left on his current deal.

'I HAVE DELIVERED'

'I want a new contract. They promised me if I delivered, I will get an improved contract.

'I have delivered. You want goals, I scored goals. And now it is the club's turn to deliver on their promise.

'All I want is respect from the club. I want them to show me they value me, that they really want me.'

If not? What will he do? Quit Arsenal? After all, the Togo star has been persistently linked to AC Milan for months.

Is Italy's fashion capital where Adebayor's thinking of heading?

'I don't know,' he muttered.

'I really enjoy playing at Arsenal and, if the conditions are right, I want to stay here forever.

'But if the conditions are not right, well, in football, you never know.'

Ah the cliche, 'In football, you never know'...the phrase footballers always use when they choose to leave their door ajar for potential suitors.

Indeed, several of Adebayor's team-mates have been linked with end-of-season moves.

Mathieu Flamini, whose contract expires at the end of this month, has stalled on a new contract and is reportedly headng to the Serie A, with AC Milan, Inter-Milan and Juventus reportedly interested.

BIG-MONEY SWOOP

Alexander Hleb is being courted by Inter-Milan too, and Cesc Fabregas may be the subject of a big-money swoop by Barcelona.

'There is a problem,' admitted Adebayor.

'We are losing talent but the club seems helpless in keeping them.

'Let me tell you: All of us would love to stay at Arsenal. But enjoying yourself at the club is one thing, taking care of your future is another. We have families, man.'

It is a problem that Gunners boss Arsene Wenger admitted he is helpless to prevent.

In a media briefing at London Colney on Friday, he said he will not break the club's stringent wage structure in order to retain talent.

'We must respect the wage structure,' said Wenger.

'The club is ??pounds;300 million ($808m) in debt from building the Emirates Stadium, and if we don't spend wisely, we will go bust.

'As the manager, I can only work within the resources that I have. My budget doesn't allow me to pay big transfer fees and wages.

'When we finally pay off our debt, we will have better resources and we will be able to spend more. But now, we have to wait.'

But Wenger's men may not. Flamini, for one, has until tomorrow to decide if he wants to stay at Arsenal.

'He told me he wants to stay. But he tells you he wants to leave,' said Wenger at the media briefing.

'So, who should I believe? Flamini is a free man. If he really wants to go to somewhere that pays him more, I will not stop him. We will find a solution to cope with his absence.'

Adebayor seems to be heading the same route - the path that leads to Arsenal's exit door.