Arsene Wenger has questioned fellow Premier League bosses'
motivation for calling for their players to return from the African
Nations Cup.
The Arsenal manager will not be asking for Gunners duo Alex
Song and Emmanuel Eboue to be called back following Friday's attack
on the Togo team bus which left three people dead.
Togo, captained by former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor,
have decided to pull out of the tournament after the gunmen opened
fire just after the team had crossed the border from the Democratic
Republic of Congo into the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.
A host of Premier League clubs have players at the African
continental championship. Adebayor and the rest of the Togo team
will be returning home, while Hull boss Phil Brown confirmed he
wants his two players in Angola - Gabon striker Daniel Cousin and
Nigeria midfielder Seyi Olofinjana - to come back to England.
Chelsea have four players - Ivory Coast duo Didier Drogba and
Salomon Kalou, Ghana's Michael Essien and Nigeria's John Mikel Obi
- in Angola, while relegation battlers Portsmouth have several
members of their squad at the competition.
It is not yet clear what stance world governing body FIFA
will take on the issue should individual federations allow their
players to leave Angola and return to domestic competition.
Wenger, though, feels any such decisions must be taken for
the right reasons.
"It wouldn't be fair, let's say that," said the Arsenal
manager. "What is behind things like that? Is it a selfish
motivation or is it a real issue over security?
"We, here, are not in the best position to judge the security
of this competition."
Wenger continued: "If you organise the European Championships
and you have an incident like that - it can happen, and has
happened already - you do not want all your players suddenly to
move home.
"International competition is international competition.
"When you hear sometimes there's unrest in the suburbs of
London, you still live well in London.
"When I speak to my friends in France, they ask me: 'Is a
revolution happening in London?' It's the same in Paris. "You
immediately think it's a revolution everywhere. It's not always the
case.
"You have to judge the place, whether the competition can go
on or not, and I don't know (the intricacies). I don't like this
culture of fear, either. I hate that."
Adebayor left Arsenal in the summer, and City have said they
will give the Togo striker as long as he needs. Wenger reflected:
"I think they will be touched, the boys who were on the bus.
"Of course, that will stay with them for a while."
