Ian Wright was a wanted man before he moved to Arsenal in 1991.

Racking up 126 goals for the Eagles over eight years, the former Gunner and out-and-out Gooner, sealed his move to Highbury in September for what now seems like a the tiny fee of £2.5m but what was, at the time, a club record.

Before the move, however, a number of others clubs were weighing up signing him, including Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, but once he knew that Arsenal were interested in him, there was no decision to make.

“It (the move to Arsenal) happened so quickly.

“Then you hear stories that (then Palace manager) Steve Coppell already done a deal with Arsenal the year before or something like that.

“After Palace-United (1990 FA Cup Final) there was talk about Alex Ferguson and me maybe going there, a little thing.

“Even Kenny Dalglish (then Liverpool manager) – when I was playing for Palace there was talk about Kenny Dalglish quite liking me and stuff like that.

“Because I work with Kelly (Cates, Dalglish’s daughter), she was saying that as well, but once Arsenal came it wasn’t like ‘Oh, Chelsea have come in’ or this, it wasn’t like that.

“Once Arsenal came that was it for me, because David Rocastle was there.

“So it was not even a case of anything could have made me turn my head.

“Nothing could have turned my head from Arsenal.”

For an Arsenal fan who worshiped David Rocastle, it couldn’t get much better than playing with him, could it?

“Absolutely not.

“The greatest 90 minutes of my whole life was my league debut against Southampton.

“Two Brockley boys who grew up on the same estate, we beat Southampton I think 4-0, David scored the first and I scored a hat-trick.

“That was the greatest 90 minutes of my life.”

 

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Ian Wright was talking at Ball Street’s media day for #OneMoreGame”

Please subscribe to Ball Street’s YouTube channel to follow Wrighty’s journey to #OneMoreGame 

[Quotes from this interview may be used as long as full credit is given to DailyCannon.com and this article is linked]

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