Arsenal legend Ian Wright reveals he almost joined Man Utd, Liverpool and Tottenham

Ian Wright proved to be a huge success at Arsenal (Picture: Getty)



Ian Wright has revealed he almost signed for Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham instead of his beloved Arsenal.



The legendary striker completed a £2.5m move to Arsenal in September 1991 after spending six seasons at Crystal Palace.



Wright says he was more than content at Palace – who signed him shortly before his 22nd birthday after spotting him playing for Greenwich Borough – and was not expecting to leave.



That all changed when he was summoned to speak with then-Crystal Palace manager Steve Coppell, who informed him the club had accepted a bid from Arsenal.



Wright is now synonymous with Arsenal but says there was ‘no link’ at the time and ‘didn’t expect’ to leave Selhurst Park, where he scored 118 goals in 277 appearances.



In fact, the only transfer speculation Wright was aware of at the time was links with fellow Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool, and Arsenal’s fierce north London rivals Tottenham.



‘It was really strange how it came about,’ Wright recalled on Sky Bet’s The Overlap. ‘I wasn’t at any stage thinking about leaving or pushing for a move.

Wright won multiple trophies at the Gunners (Picture: Getty)



‘Then one day I got a call saying I needed to see Steve Coppell. I went in to see him and he was pretty solemn and sad. He just said, “we’ve accepted a bid from Arsenal”.



‘I didn’t have a clue. I never knew anything about it. There was never any link between me and Arsenal in the papers.



‘After the 1990 FA Cup final (which Crystal Palace lost to Manchester United), there was a lot of stuff with Liverpool, there was a chat about Tottenham as well and there was Man United.



‘But I didn’t expect anything to happen at that time, I was 28 by that point.’


https://metro.co.uk/2024/08/19/90s-football-legend-almost-joined-man-utd-liverpool-instead-arsenal-21449593/