Shaun Wright Phillips should step into his father’s footsteps to join Arsenal – only for Chelsea to sneak and sign him.
The 43-year-old was considered one of the promising wingers in the Premier League during his first magic in Manchester City.
4
Wright-Phillips, which stood by the City’s Academy, had scored 31 goals in 181 games in the 2005 summer transfer window.
The English international at the time had just enjoyed his best season in the top class after scoring ten goals.
His dazzling displays led the Gunners to take a step for the player in an emotional transfer.
At that time, his father Ian was a scorer with 185 goals of Arsenal, although Wright-Phillips did not surprisingly grew up a fan of the giants of Nordlondon.
Despite the interest of Arsenal, the player landed at Chelsea – everything because Arsene Wenger wanted to delay the transfer by six months.
It led to the blues for the then 23-year entry, where it secured its services worth £ 21 million.
At that time, the city was in the middle of a financial crisis and had to sell the player this summer to avoid the administration.
Wright-Phillips appeared in the sports bar and was asked by co-moderator Jason Cundy about the transfer saga who wanted to know if he had rejected Arsenal to join his beloved Chelsea.
He said to that: “No, there was no choice. This is a kind of what people don’t get.
“Arsenal were the first people on the table. They had priority.
4
4
“In many ways, you have the thinking of Man City – in the situation of Man City – to sell me. That was accepted.
“But after what was told me, Arsene Wenger said that I had to wait until January [to join].
“City now needed the money, Chelsea came and paid for it.
“And that was basically as simple as it was.”
After Arsenal was still on the market for a new winger, they finally turned to the Southampton Starlet Theo Walcott.
And as what Wenger had planned, the signing in the winter transmission window occurred in January 2006.
4
If Wright Phillips had come to Arsenal in 2005, he would have been part of the squad that the Champions League final had reached.
But as it turned out, he became a Premier League champion – with 27 league excursions for The Blues.
The following season he would achieve the success of FA Cup and Ligapokal, with 2-1 winning 2-1 in the final.
In this game, Walcott opened his report for Arsenal – the first of his 108 goals in the colors of the club.
Wright-Phillips was far from being productive for Chelsea and only achieved ten times from 125 appearances.
In 2008 he finally returned to City in a 10 million pound -where he would win another FA Cup in 2011 before switching to QPR and then New York Red Bulls and Phoenix in America.