If a club really wants a certain player, sometimes the best solution is to talk to the club’s friends.
This certainly happened at Chelsea when former manager Bobby Campbell was keen to sign young Ian Wright.
3
The striker was just hitting his stride at Crystal Palace in 1990 when Campbell asked Andy Townsend to speak to Wright and convince him to move to Stamford Bridge – and it almost worked.
Townsend told The Pitch Prospect Drive: “It’s natural for clubs, when a particular team has a player they’re interested in, they’ll ask you to do a bit of the dirty work.”
“They ask you to find out about certain players. I’ll never forget the one that got away from me, if you will. Bobby Campbell, God rest his soul, Chelsea manager.
“I remember when Wrighty was at Palace and he really wanted to go somewhere else. He made the right decision and went to Arsenal where he won a lot.
“I remember Bobby Campbell saying to me, ‘I really want Ian Wright.’ I remember speaking to Wrighty once when we were walking out of Selhurst Park and I asked him, ‘Would you come to Chelsea?’ and Wrighty said, ‘Yes, I would!’.
“Whether he did it or not, I’m sure a lot of people would have talked to Wrighty at the time. But these things happen all the time.”
Instead, Wright moved to Arsenal, where he became a club legend, scoring 185 goals, placing him second on the all-time list behind Thierry Henry.
Today he is a popular pundit on television. Under Arsene Wenger he won the Premier League and FA Cup double in 1998, as well as two FA Cups, the League Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup.
3
3
Townsend spoke to The Pitch Prospect about Real Madrid’s interest in Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold.
His England teammate Jude Bellingham is a key player there and it would be no surprise if it turns out that he simply asked his pal if he would like to go to the Bernabeu with him.
There is no evidence that this actually happened, but a friendship developed between the two, which was again evident at the 2024 European Championship.
It has been linked with a departure of Alexander-Arnold after the start of the final year of his contract.
The right-back has given no indication as to whether he wants to stay or not – and he is not the only one.
Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are also in the final year of their contracts and their future is uncertain.
Liverpool could still decide to capitalise on the trio, which would give new head coach Arne Slot money in the transfer market to sign his own players.
So far, however, the Reds have not completed any transfer or contract deals. The only changes are the departures of Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara and Adrian, whose contracts expired last month, and the departure of Calvin Ramsay on loan to Wigan.