Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood has confessed that he would have Emmanuel Adebayor at the club in a "heartbeat" despite his refusal to join the club in the summer.
The 31-year-old rejected the chance to move to Villa Park on a loan move from Tottenham Hotspur, even though he was told by Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino that he had no future at the club.
However, Adebayor has insisted that he wants his contract paid up to facilitate a transfer elsewhere, and Sherwood has admitted that he would love to work with the Togo international once again.
He told reporters: "I would not hesitate. If he had the desire to want to come and play football again, I would have taken him in a heartbeat. We still have to respect his decision, whatever he makes. It's his - I can't influence it.
"Am I disappointed? I'm disappointed for him because he's not going to play. He's too good a talent - I've seen that first hand - to not play any football, but unfortunately I don't think there's any window open for him now.
"If he wanted to play in Qatar he would have gone there a long time ago. It's hard to say. I was going to say he's not in it for the money but, genuinely, he wants to play at the top level. It's not financial. It's easy to say that when you're on his money, but he would genuinely play for nothing. It's not his fault he's not part of their plans."
Villa play Leicester City in their Premier League clash later today.
Simon Sinclair
