Quique Sanchez Flores has revealed Watford denied former Arsenal and Real Madrid striker Emmanuel Adebayor the chance to train with the club but has refused to rule out the possibility in the future.

The 31-year-old left Tottenham Hotspur on September 13 after protracted discussions with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy to end his contract – which had been due to expire next summer – nine months early.

But as he was freed outside of the transfer window, Adebayor cannot sign with another Premier League team until the transfer window re-opens in January.

However, that has not stopped the Togolese asking to train with the Hornets. But Flores is adamant the former Manchester City striker will not be joining up with his squad at the present time.

He said: “It is difficult. We admire Adebayor. He is an amazing player but we were, until two weeks ago, having difficulties closing the squad.

“At the moment we don’t want to change anything. We respect Adebayor very much and wish him all the best for the future.

“You never know what will happen in football in the future. Maybe we will have the possibility to train together, but at this moment Watford consider it is not the moment to put new players in the squad.

“We have a squad with a lot of new players trying to adapt and it is best for us to close the squad.”

The Spaniard continued: “We were thinking a lot during the last two months about making the right decisions about the players we need to keep here with us.

“Now is not the moment to open the possibility of new players.”

Adebayor moved to England in 2006 when he joined Arsenal from Monaco and hit 46 Premier League goals in 86 starts for the Gunners.

That form attracted the interest of Manchester City, who splashed out £25 million to bring the powerful forward to the Etihad Stadium before discarding him after 15 goals in a mere27 league starts.

A brief loan spell at Real Madrid – which brought five goals in six league starts – followed before he was picked up by Tottenham Hotspur, initially on loan, in 2011.

But he fell out of favour at White Hart Lane last season and after moves to West Ham United and Aston Villa broke down earlier this year he was left out of Mauricio Pochettino’s 25-man Premier League squad and stripped of his squad number.

Despite scoring a paltry two league goals last season Adebayor comes with a sizeable pedigree and Flores acknowledged it was a compliment to Watford that a player of such repute was interested in the Hornets.

He said: “For us it is very important players want to come here to Watford.

“The positive news for us is players look to Watford and say: ‘Watford is a good place to train and play.’ I am really pleased players want to come here to train with us.”