Soccer English FA PremiershipArsene Wenger said yesterday Jose Antonio Reyes would be allowed to leave Arsenal if he wanted a move, after the forward was duped into admitting on Spanish radio he was unhappy in London and would love a transfer to Real Madrid.

The manager emphasised he wanted to hold on to Reyes and believed at Highbury the 21-year-old could become one of the world's best players.

"It's simple," he said. "If a player wants to leave he has to knock at my door and say he wants to leave. And then he has to bring a club that wants to buy (him). My desire to keep the player is stronger than ever because I believe in him."

Wenger downplayed Reyes's remarks about being unhappy, noting that any youngster has up and down periods abroad. He challenged the Spain international to show maturity to overcome problems seemingly caused by difficulties for his family in settling in England and his dip in form.

"If you want to go abroad you have to accept it won't be easy," he said. "It's the same for everybody. That's part of the challenge. It's something we've taken on together.

"He's going through a period where it's not easy but if you want to have a big player - like he will be, I'm still convinced - there will be periods where you're not too happy. You can ask Michael Owen (at Real Madrid). He's had periods like it too.

"The challenge in front of him is to show he has made the (right) decision to join us. I feel, when it doesn't go as well as he expected it to, that he must show the strength needed. If he doesn't he will not be happy."

Madrid yesterday denied they had any intention of signing Reyes in a swap deal for Owen.

"Real Madrid are not considering an exchange," the club said in a statement. "Real Madrid are delighted and satisfied with the work of the English player. No agent and neither, of course, Arsenal have been in contact to present anything in this respect."

Reyes, conned by a radio presenter into thinking he was talking to Madrid's vice-president Emilio Butragueno, said he was delighted they were interested in him. Wenger said Reyes was "very disappointed" with the station but was happy in training, integrated at Arsenal and loved by the squad.

Wenger understood why Reyes had said he had always wanted to play for Madrid - "Who wouldn't have a club of his dreams in his own country?" - and put Reyes's problems down to events on the pitch.

Reyes has not scored in the league since October 2nd. "He wouldn't have been feeling like this at all when he was scoring goals in September."

Wenger plans to talk to Reyes at the appropriate moment. He said he had not been told the family were unhappy in London but that he would be happy to help the player's mother if he could.

As for Ashley Cole, Wenger said he had not asked the left back about an alleged meeting with Chelsea in a London hotel because he already knew the truth. When asked why he had not directly confronted Cole, Wenger suggested there was no point in questioning Cole.

"What does that change?" he asked. "Who tells you that I do not know what happened? You take me really for naive."

He called the affair a "big disturbance" and added: "It's for the Premier League to get the truth out. What does it change if I know the truth or not?"

"We're in the middle of a storm which we have done nothing to help cause. It's been a big disturbance to us. The moment was especially unpleasant, the day before the Manchester United game. What have we done wrong? If somebody has done anything wrong, it's Chelsea. They can say yes or no."

Arsenal have lodged an official complaint after claims that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon held a secret meeting with Cole at a London hotel a fortnight ago.

When the story initially broke, Wenger revealed that "it looks to me like, yes, it has happened, although I don't know (for sure)".

Now, after studying the evidence against Chelsea, he seems rather more certain of his views.

Cole could nevertheless still be called to give evidence if an official hearing is held, although Wenger concluded: "The Premier League will have to decide that."

Meanwhile, Wenger said there was only a "small chance" defender Sol Campbell would be fit for Arsenal's Champions League game at Bayern Munich a week on Tuesday because of an ankle injury.

Campbell is definitely out of Monday night's Premiership game against Crystal Palace because of the injury sustained against Manchester United on February 1st.