Emmanuel Adebayor believes Cesc Fabregas will follow him out of Arsenal if the Gunners do not make it into the group phase of the Champions League.
The 22-year-old has been linked with a return to his old club Barcelona this summer, although Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has repeatedly insisted the player is not for sale.
However, Togo striker Adebayor, who left the Emirates Stadium in a £25million move to Manchester City earlier this summer, is adamant the club must prove they are still capable of challenging for top honours in order to hang on to their talismanic playmaker.
"I think it's possible they could lose Cesc if they don't get into the Champions League," Adebayor was quoted as saying in the Sunday Mirror.
"Cesc is a very good player. I have played with Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, but I would go for Cesc as the best I have played with.
"He has good vision and in one pass he can change the game. Since he was 16 he has enjoyed Arsenal, so for him it will be a blow if they are not in the Champions League.
"If that happens there is a chance that Cesc and the other big players will leave.
"He's an intelligent person and at the right moment, he will make the right decision."
Wenger insisted in his Friday pre-match press conference that there was "no chance" of Fabregas going anywhere.
"Do you really think we sell now our players one day before the championship starts, players who are basic players of the team? There is no chance," he said.
"You cannot stop people from having a lot of creative imagination during their sleepless nights, but that does not mean we will do it.
"We are at the beginning of a new season now, and it is important that everybody focuses - me, Fabregas, everybody else, just on being successful for the club we love, and the best way we can do that is to do well."
Arsenal take on Celtic in a Champions League play-off, with the first leg taking place in Glasgow on Tuesday night.
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