Emmanuel Adebayor, the Arsenal striker, has given the clearest indication yet that he will leave the club in the summer.

On a day of contradictions, Adebayor at first appeared to state that he would be happy to remain at Arsenal, where he has a three-year contract, before changing his stance and welcoming interest from Barcelona and AC Milan. The Togo striker, 24, said that he would consider offers from leading clubs and was adamant that the final decision was his to make. He will decide one way or the other after talks with Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, scheduled to take place next week.

“If what I hear is right, Arsenal could bring in five or six times the money they paid for me,” Adebayor, who cost £5million when he signed from AS Monaco in 2006, said. “Everyone is getting the benefits. They have to make a good decision and I have to make a good decision as well.

“Arsène is like a father to me and I love him a lot, but he bought me because he believed in my quality, not because I was from Togo or needed the money or looked beautiful. He bought me because he thought I could do something good for his club. He put me where I am today, but now a lot of teams want me and I must decide.

“I will sit down next week with my agent and we will work out what is good for my career. That is the most important thing. We will meet with Arsène Wenger before anything and then I will decide.”

Adebayor's situation echoes that of Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United - the Portugal winger has been angling for a move to Real Madrid since before the Champions League final in May. Adebayor, like Ronaldo, has preferred to drip-feed news of his intentions, hence the speculation and uncertainty.

From a position at the end of the season when he was adamant that he would stay at Arsenal, Adebayor then said that he was flattered by interest from Italy and Spain, although yesterday's about-turn in Vienna represents his most naked deployment of brinkmanship yet.

Clouding the issue further is the belief that Wenger, while publicly insisting that he would like Adebayor to stay, is privately happy for him to leave, provided that Arsenal can secure a fee in the region of £30million. It is this game of bluff and counter-bluff that makes Adebayor's future so unsure, although, cutting through the fog, if the player wants to go and the club want to sell, the only outstanding issue would appear to be whether prospective buyers can afford the fee. Milan do not have Champions League football to fall back on next season, while Barcelona must pre- qualify.

Adebayor says that the ball is in Arsenal's court and he is waiting for Wenger to arrange a meeting when he returns from the European Championship finals on Monday. The player has set a deadline of July 21, when Arsenal report back for pre-season training, to have his future resolved. “I need to know by then,” he said. “I have a promise from Arsène that they will call me next week because I asked them to look at my contract and see what they wanted to do. Now I am waiting and then I will decide.

“I am in a position that I don't know where I will play next season, but that is normal. It will not be a difficult decision because if you had told me seven years ago when I was playing in Togo without football shoes that I would have a choice of playing in Spain or Italy, it would have seemed crazy. I never thought there would be so many clubs who wanted to buy me.”

Wenger, who has lost Mathieu Flamini to Milan, also faces a battle to keep Alexander Hleb. Supporters would view the departure of Adebayor as a huge blow, but Wenger has been steeling himself for it for much of the summer and has a list of potential replacements, including Roque Santa Cruz, of Blackburn Rovers.