It all kicked off over Nicklas Bendtner's sneakers, apparently. The friction worsened with a dressing-room debate about respect at Arsenal, turned nasty with a very public scrap between Bendtner and Emmanuel Adebayor and culminated in the Togo striker being sold to Manchester City. From little sparks, a pair of trainers in this case, do infernos grow.


Adebayor has been one of the stars of this nascent Premier League season, a joy to watch as he glides around, linking and scoring for City. Bendtner has also impressed for a revitalised, united Arsenal. As they collide at Eastlands on Saturday, this strange, sad and rather toxic story needs telling.

Adebayor has moved on physically but clearly not mentally, judging by the time he spent explaining his spectacular falling-out with Arsenal, starting with the shoes. "I have never been a bad influence in the dressing room,’’ Adebayor began. "I had a little difficult moment with Nicklas Bendtner.

"There was a rule at Arsenal where no one is allowed to come into the dressing room with trainers or house shoes on. I cannot understand why Nicklas came every day with his shoes on.’’

So he cornered the cocky young Dane. "Nicklas, you are a footballer, I am a footballer,’’ Adebayor told him. "Maybe I am better than you, maybe you are better than me but you have to respect everyone. There are rules saying you cannot come into the dressing-room with your house shoes. Take them off.’’

According to Adebayor, Bendtner "never took them off and things started from there. I cannot accept that. Even if that happened tomorrow at City, I would fight with somebody.’’

Arsenal’s manager, Arsene Wenger, told Adebayor to calm down. "The Boss jumped on me. 'Why me?’ I said. 'Nicklas is 20, he has to do the things that [William] Gallas, Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas are doing.’

"Nicklas had a very easy route [into football]. He had the chance to be in the Arsenal Academy, the chance to be an international for Denmark. Football doesn’t stop there. You are young, you have to learn. No matter what quality you have, you have to listen to people, let people help you to be good.

"I was not born with a golden spoon in my mouth. I left Africa at 15, came to Europe [with Metz] and it was very difficult but I knew if I listened I would be better. That’s what pushed me to where I am today.

"People in my country love me. I represent my country very well. My family are very proud of me. But I can do more. That’s why I am always fighting to improve and be one of the best strikers in the world. I am fighting in games to see how many goals I can score, how many passes I can make, how many tackles, how many times I am coming back to help my team-mates.

"If [Cristiano] Ronaldo had gone to Manchester United and thought 'I’m good’ he would not have become the best player in the world. He worked with the United players, who helped make him big. Nicklas just thinks he can make himself big.’’

On Jan 22, 2008, the pair’s feud turned physical during a League Cup tie against Spurs, Bendtner ending with a cut forehead.

"Nicklas showed me the finger,’’ explained Adebayor. "I am very sorry. You cannot show a partner the finger.’’ Inevitably, question marks were raised about Adebayor’s future. He could have left that summer. "I had a chance to go to Barcelona and Milan and the money [salary] was two times bigger than Arsenal. I decided to stay.’’

But the fans turned against him, their ire building after a series of uncommitted displays. "Arsenal forced me out. Arsene told me: 'You have to leave because financially we are very bad.’ That makes it more painful. Arsene knows I didn’t leave for money. Enjoying my football is more important to me than money.

"When I realised Arsenal don’t want me anymore, I told the people City sent to watch me that I want a good conversation with Mark Hughes. He has a great mentality. He told me his ambition, how he wants to build up his team. I thought: 'OK, why not be part of this club? I’ll take a risk.’ It’s worked out. The club is happy having me here. I am happy being here. We are one.

"What is good at City is that the fans are truly fans. They love you. Arsenal have a lot of fans who are not fans. Arsenal have fans from America and Jamaica. Today they are Arsenal fans, tomorrow they will be Liverpool fans and after tomorrow they will be Manchester United fans.

'If you boo your player every weekend, I am very sorry, you are not true fans. I can understand the frustration if you think the player wants to leave but I said on TV, newspaper and radio I wanted to stay.’’

Nothing could staunch the derision. "That hurt me a lot. That was the most difficult moment in my career. I did everything for that club. When I first signed at Arsenal they didn’t put even one pound on my salary at Monaco. I told them: 'I will show you how good I am and afterwards we can discuss a contract.’

"So to have a fight at the end is not right. That gives me motivation every single day. I now have a chance to face the Arsenal fans. I have to fight for City to take victory. My determination is very high. I have the mentality of a winner. Here I have the confidence I lost last season.’’

He has dovetailed well with a range of strikers. "With Craig [Bellamy], I know 100 per cent he will go behind the defence. One v one, Robinho will dribble. I know most of the time Carlos [Tevez] will come for the ball. But we don’t care how we win - technically, tactically or physically. What we are fighting for is the three points. I will be very pleased to win the title but it takes a lot of time.

"There is a toughness here. They are my friends and my brothers. Kolo [Toure] says: 'We have to fight. Saturday’s game will not be easy.’ Shay Given does the same. We have a lot of personality in the dressing room – Carlos, myself.’’

Before returning to training, Adebayor wants to stress his overall "respect’’ for Arsenal, particularly people like Wenger - "he knows I always love him as a manager’’ - and certain players.

"Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue are not friends - they are brothers. We did everything together. But I am a City player and they are not friends of this club. I want to be in the Champions League next season. So do they.

"So between 3pm and 5, we are not brothers. If I have to score two goals, I will. If I have to make a pass that wins us the game, I will. After the game we will be brothers.’’

Bendtner? Unlikely. The sneakers controversy lives on.

'People always think it's about money, but I just want to win trophies'

Theo Walcott says he is ready to perform in a pivotal season for Arsenal and England

It is when the interview is coming to an end that Theo Walcott rolls up his sleeve to show the tattoo on the inside of his right arm. It is written in Sanskrit and dedicated to his family: "Beautiful, Blessed, Strong, Intelligent." Beautiful for his sister, Hollie, blessed for his father, Don, strong for his brother, Ashley, and intelligent for his mother, Lynn. "I just wanted to do something nice for them," he says. And, Walcott being Walcott, he left himself off because, well, it just did not feel right to pick an epithet for himself.

The wonderkid is 20 now, no longer the baby of the football world that everybody thinks him. Yes, he has the star player's accessories: the nice watch, the designer T-shirt, the diamond studs. But, even now, there is an innocence about him. To borrow that famous old lyric, he comes straight outta Compton; that is,Compton in Berkshire, a village of one pub, one shop and one football field. Everyone seems to know one another in Compton.

"My little village is fantastic," Walcott says with a smile. His girlfriend, Melanie Slade, was once tailed by a photographer all the way from Southampton. "We were going for a meal so all my neighbours came out and basically surrounded his car, blocked him in with their cars and bikes, so he couldn't move and couldn't get his picture. We left, then they let him go."

Then there was the day in 2006 when he was included in Sven-Goran Eriksson's World Cup squad. So many villagers made their way to his house Don had to tape a sign to the gate asking them to return at 6pm when Theo would be home and able to sign autographs. "There was a queue from the front door all the way down the road, as far as you could see," Walcott remembers, shaking his head. "It felt like the entire village had turned out."

Walcott has always been taken aback by the adulation he creates, the way adults shout his name and grab for his hand, the way young boys rush to him and then fall silent and shy once up close. And yet he is young enough to have his own heroes. His eyes still widen, for example, when Thierry Henry is mentioned. The Frenchman always seemed untouchable until, in pre-season, his former club had their 40-metre sprint tests. "I did it in 4.7 seconds," Walcott says. "I think Thierry's club record was 4.82 or 4.84. He probably won't be too happy."

The frustration for Arsenal fans is that they have yet to see that scorching pace this season. Walcott has been suffering from a persistent back injury after a virtually non-stop summer in which, to the consternation of Arsène Wenger, the Football Association asked him to double up for England's Under-21s in their European Championship finals as well as for the senior team in World Cup qualifiers.

Walcott is, at least, in line to return to the squad for the Champions League match against Standard Liège on Wednesday, but Wenger believes the summer exertions have not been fair on the player or his club. Walcott's own view is that he wanted to play, regardless of the politics. "If I'm called up by any England team I'm willing to go. I'm not going to pull out of any England team. Ask any young kid who wants to play for their national team and everyone's the same. We're all dying to do it. I wanted to go and I let Arsenal and England deal with everything else. I left that battle to them."

Events, like Walcott, have moved at speed. He is encouraged by what he has seen of Arsenal going into today's game at Manchester City. Then, on Wednesday, Capello's side qualified for the World Cup and Walcott could be forgiven for wondering about the next chapter in his England story. You know the one – the story of the boy who was picked for the World Cup but never got a game; the kid who became an easy target when everything went wrong.

The first time I came across Walcott he was wandering around Baden-Baden with a video camera, filming his own diary, looking every bit the tourist. He had just turned 17 and had not made a single first-team appearance for Arsenal. Eriksson had not even seen him play when he picked him for the squad and, when it came down to it, he did not have the nerve to go through with his gamble. Walcott did not get a minute on the pitch.

His own memories are like those of so many others, predominantly bemusement. "It was all new to me. I watched that diary a couple of weeks ago and it was funny seeing what I looked like – this little baby-face. I definitely felt like a kid. I hadn't even had the chance to play in the Premier League so the call-up was an absolute shock. But I didn't pick the squad, did I? It was like I was on holiday really."

A holiday? "At times. The diary is fantastic to watch because at times I was frustrated at not playing. The staff and manager were saying I was doing well in training but I never got the chance to play. So it was quite frustrating. But I didn't expect to go there and do wonders. The idea was to train, learn my trade and see how I got on. [Jermaine] Jenas didn't get the chance to play either, but everyone forgets about that."

Walcott certainly has better credentials to be in South Africa. He had "no right" to go to Germany in 2006, Steven Gerrard volunteered in his autobiography. Sir Alex Ferguson stated recently that he "still could not understand it". Dave Whelan, the Wigan chairman, called Walcott "basically the ballboy". But the player has always been able to flash that disarming smile and laugh it off. "It doesn't bother me at all. I was only 17 and still developing so, yeah, I probably shouldn't have gone. Everyone has their own opinion but I was absolutely delighted. You will have to ask Sven why. But now I feel it was the right decision. It's paid off because I feel like I've played well for England."

The boy has become a man. The highlight of England's current qualifying campaign was indisputably Walcott's hat-trick in the 4-1 win in Croatia a year and two days ago. Yet the people who know Walcott best will also attest there is far more to him than just body swerve and pace. He has been back to his old school to help the kids. He has attached himself to all sorts of charity projects, even a campaign encouraging more enlightened attitudes to breastfeeding (because he was sick of his sister getting dirty looks).

An enthusiastic computer game player, he was boyishly delighted to discover he would be alongside Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard on the cover of EA Sports FIFA 10 when it is released next month. Wenger has suggested he could become the most feared attacker on the planet. Yet there are no signs of the fame going to his head.

"My friends, family and girlfriend have all helped, but I'm a level-headed guy anyway. I haven't changed at all. People always think it's about money, money, money but I just want to win trophies. Ryan Giggs is the perfect example for me, the amount of medals he's won. You want to look back on your career and see what you've achieved, not just have a fancy car and a big house."

Surely he must enjoy the occasional night on the town? "I will go out and have some fun. You can't lock yourself away forever. But it's not me you'll see stumbling out of nightclubs."

He brings up Giggs again. "It's not so much that he's been at one club all his career, more that you don't see him on the front pages. It's the way he talks to people, the way he deals with the pressure every day. He is like an ambassador for his club."

Remarkably grounded, Walcott is an impressive spokesman for his own club, too. The perception going into this season was that Arsenal were the most vulnerable of the big four. Yet Walcott believes there is clear evidence that Arsenal are not going to be a soft touch.

"That's the thing we've learned. The way we've played so far, it's been great to see how we've coped with the physical battle. A lot of people think you just have to kick Arsenal and they will shy out of tackles. Other teams have tried that but this year I don't think it's going to work. We've had a couple of years to learn and we're there to cope with the physical battle now. I definitely feel more capable of standing up to it. A lot of players have come on. Alex Song, Denílson – they've really come out of their shells. [Thomas] Vermaelen looks a fantastic addition."

But can they actually win anything? "Because it's been so long, I think it's actually brought us closer together. Four years is a long time without a trophy. But we'll be OK. We just have to get results to shut people up."