PAUL MERSON has opened up about his time playing with Ian Wright at Arsenal.
In an interview with Jeff Stelling for the “Football‘s Greatest” podcast he said Ian Wright was “the greatest finisher” he’d ever played with, and insisted that the forward was a better footballer than Alan Shearer.
He also revealed how Wright could “put it about” on the football pitch in response to the brutal treatment he would receive from defenders in the 1990s.
And he says that unlike some forward’s, Wright was never afraid to continue his physical battles with opposition players once the final whistle blew.
Opening up on his time with Wright, Merson said: “Ian Wright was different, we could be under the cosh in a game and clear the ball to the halfway line and he would beat two players and chip the goalie. I don’t know too many players when I was playing that could do that.
“And he could put it about as well. He would say ‘I’ll see you after’ [to opposing players.]
“And he would walk in the players’ lounge and look for the player and go ‘let’s go’. They’d go ‘what?’ And he’d ‘You told me you wanted to see me after the game, let’s go’.
“I’ve never seen anybody do that, I’ve seen players square up and say ‘I’ll see you after’ and they’d be cuddling and kissing afterwards. Not Wrighty.”
He also revealed that he got on the wrong side of Wright once after not passing the ball in a game against Nottingham Forest and decided to not repeat that feat again.
“He said ‘You should have passed’ and I said ‘Oh F off Wrighty, and he went ballistic, I mean ballistic at the highest level. But he was a winner and I couldn’t talk highly enough of Ian Wright.
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“He was one of my favourite players to play with without a doubt.”
Merson, who played as a right-winger for Arsenal and won two league titles with the Gunners, was full of praise for Wright and said he was a “better footballer” than his England no9 rival Alan Shearer.
Merson said: “He’s the best centre-forward I ever played with and I played with Shearer. His goalscoring record talks for itself but Wrighty had every goal in the locker.
“[Wright] was a better footballer. [They were] Different players in a way but Shearer was more of a target man. Very physical. Very strong. But he wasn’t gonna beat two players from the halfway line. He just wasn’t that type of player, so I would go with Ian Wright [as the better player].
“I think Ian Wright will be disappointed he never got more England caps than he did.”
The two played together at Arsenal between 1991 and 1997, winning an FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup during their time with The Gunners.
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