Football Special Report: 32 Greatest footballers in the history of the English Premier League (Part 8)
25. Ian Wright
Good strikers are jotted down in two categories; some are great goal scorers, while the others are scorers of great goals. The former Arsenal player, Ian Wright was simply “both.”
The Arsenal legend always had a way to score a goal. He would score from a 30 yard chip and even a two yard toe-poke, but Ian Wright always had a way to score goals. The way he used to score goals and the number of goals that he scored made him a legend
in the English League.
Wright was simply a showman. The Englishman was a one-man army when it came down to striking for goals and he was a “force of nature” both, on and off the pitch. On the pitch is obviously because of his goal scoring techniques but off the pitch he was simply
famous for choreographing goal celebrations. Arsenal fans still remember him for his celebrations!
Many still say that Ian Wright came into professional football a little “too” late. The English striker signed a contract with Crystal Palace in August 1985 and he was 22 years old when he started his professional footballing career. He joined Arsenal in
1991 for 2.5 million pounds and many questioned why the “old” player was bought for such a high price.
Arsenal were the English Champions with players like Alan Smith and Kevin Campbell on their side. Moreover, they had Andres Limpar and Paul Merson on their side too and questions were raised whether Arsenal really needed Ian Wright in their squad.
The Arsenal manager knew exactly what he was doing and it was Ian Wright who proved to be worth it, as he scored a goal on his debut when Arsenal went on to face Leicester City in the League Cup. Later, he managed to bag himself a hat-trick on his League
debut at Southampton. For Ian it was like he was writing the future for himself during the season and he completed a hat-trick again to win the Golden Boot award, as he outran the Tottenham Hotspurs striker, Gary Lineker and brought the award to the other
London side.
Arsenal manager, George Graham offloaded Limpar and David Rocastle in the mid nineties and Arsenal’s dreams of winning another League were simply shattered as the new midfield did not really cope well with the strikers; however, it was still Ian Wright who
was scoring a lot of goals for the English club. They had the most aggressive defence in the English league and it was Arsenal who were winning 1-0 mostly and it was Wright who used to be the only goal scorer for the London club.
Wright helped the team win a domestic double in 1993, as the North London club won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994. The triumph in Europe helped Wright win his first medal ever and although he missed the win against Parma after getting a red card in
the semi final; it was simply seen how his “temper” got him into trouble most of the time.
However, whenever Wright was available for the English club, the goals kept on coming for Arsenal. During the campaign of the 1995 European Cup Winners’ Cup, Ian Wright managed to score a goal in all the matches except the final. Later, for six consecutive
seasons, it was Ian Wright who was the top goal scorer for the North London club, Arsenal.
Ian Wright further added on to his tally with the help of the Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp. His arrival reignited Wright’s goal scoring form as the Englishman was given inch perfect and pin point passes by the former Ajax player, Dennis Bergkamp.
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