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Jonathan White

“It’s gonna take more than a new kit,” said Arsenal legend Ian Wright on his former club’s chances of ending their 15-year wait for the English Premier League title.
Arsenal’s second highest scorer was in Hong Kong on Tuesday to launch the club’s return to kit manufacturer Adidas after 25 years.
“When I signed for Arsenal from Palace I was just desperate to play in the kit. Up until that point I hadn’t played in anything near Adidas. I think it was Bukta and Admiral.
“I was desperate to play in the Arsenal red and white but I didn’t get to play in it for three games. I played in that bruised banana one, which for me is the iconic kit.




“Can it inspire the players? It meant a lot to me when you put on a kit and how it felt. It makes you feel better but at the same time you do need to perform a lot better than we did last season, especially away from home.”
Wright is the face of the club’s “This is Home” campaign, which has gone viral.


“When you start supporting Arsenal then as far as Arsenal are concerned you’re a Londoner. I think they captured that pretty well and I think they captured the area, what it’s like for people to watch and see what it’s like on a match day and what it means to people. I think they nailed it. I’m just pleased to be in it.
“The respect it pays to my dear friend David Rocastle, Tony Adams gets a little cameo. It was brilliantly done.”
Less brilliant was Arsenal’s first campaign under Unai Emery. “Last season was a bit disappointing the way it ended up.


“I think he came in and said all the right things, what he was trying to do, playing out from the back, getting the guys fitter. I thought we saw that at the start of the season.
“But then we kind of lost our way a little bit. We rode our luck and it caught up with us towards the end. That away form was not good enough and I think that the manager has to take some of the blame for that, just like the players.
“When you see the capitulation in the second half of that Europa League final, I thought that was really poor. They’ve got a lot to do in respects of making sure they give something back.

“I think the Adidas campaign has given everybody in the Arsenal world a bit of a boost and you hope that they can jump on the momentum of that and start the season well.”
There may be new faces by then.
“We’re trying to get Wilfried Zaha, which would be magnificent,” Wright said. He would like to see the club bring in several additions this summer.

“You want competition for places. Defensively, I think everyone can agree, we need some strength in there. You can always strengthen in the midfield. Aaron Ramsey’s gone. We need that midfielder who is going to join the front guys and try to contribute with goals. Goals is a premium so you always want to be linked with a striker that might be able to come and help.”
Instead, Arsenal’s strikers are being linked with moves away from the club. “Hopefully that doesn’t happen because that would be disastrous.”
Even though he missed out on the World Cup with England, Wright said he would not have changed anything about a career that took him from park football to pulling on the Three Lions. “I can’t be too greedy. I’ve got to be satisfied with what I’ve got in the end,” he said.

He also hopes that others will follow the path from non-league level to the national team he has travelled, as have Jamie Vardy, Les Ferdinand and Stuart Pearce.
Wright believes it will get more people playing the grass roots game.
“I pray to god that can happen because it will only inspire people to play Sunday football more. I love Sunday football. Love playing it, love watching it. You never know where you can go with it. I started playing Sunday football, ended up playing for England. It’s still baffling to me.”

It was a career that led him to play with some of the game’s greats. Arsenal strike partner Dennis Bergkamp was the best player Wright played with, just ahead of England teammate Paul Gascoigne.
“Gazza runs him close. Gazza in the ’90s. We saw him in the World Cup. Then afterwards, after he done the knee he was still fantastic. Gazza was an amazing player to watch and play with.”
Who would he like to partner now? “I don’t think many people would want to play against me and Luis Suarez.

“Harry Kane as well. Harry Kane can drop off and do a bit,” he said, adding PSG’s Kylian Mbappe to the list. “Just electric, he’s amazing.”
There is one thing he might have done differently if he was playing now. Wright admitted he would have been tempted to join a Chinese Super League side with the money a “major factor”, but said players from his generation would have been tempted by the chance to experience a different culture.
Former Arsenal trainee Nico Yennaris has made the move and became the first naturalised player to represent the Chinese national team. Wright thinks it’s great that he has been accepted.

“If he wants to play for China, good luck to him. Good luck to anybody who has been accepted by another country and then to play for that country with honour and dignity, for the country to accept you is brilliant.”


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English Premier League

Arsenal legend Ian Wright on new Adidas kit, ‘magnificent’ Wilfried Zaha and Gazza being almost as good as Dennis Bergkamp

Ian Wright at the Royal Pacific Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Tory Ho

This photo taken on April 14, 2019 shows Nico Yennaris (top), also known as Li Ke, of Beijing Guoan celebrating with teammate Renato Augusto after scoring during their Chinese Super League match against Henan Jianye in Beijing. - Nico Yennaris was born in working-class east London, played with Harry Kane at Arsenal as a boy and is an England youth international. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT

Former English national Paul Gascoigne, now playing for Chinese second division club Gansu Tianma, jubilates as he leaves the pitch during a match against Qingdao Hailifeng team at the Qilihe Stadium in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu province 29 March 2003. This is Gascoigne's debut match in China, and he goaled at the 14th minute. Gascoigne got his new second division Chinese club team off to a roaring start in its league opener, scoring a spectacular goal in a 2-0 win over Qingdao Hailifeng. AFP PHOTO

Soccer Football - Premier League - Fulham v Crystal Palace - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - August 11, 2018 Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha celebrates after the match Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.

Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - Paris St Germain v AS Monaco - Parc des Princes, Paris, France - April 21, 2019 Paris St Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their second goal REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Ian Wright, former English football player for Arsenal, photographed at the Royal Pacific Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. 02JUL19 SCMP / Tory Ho

Ian Wright of Arsenal in action at the Craven Euro-Asia Challenge Arsenal vs Rangersat the Hong Kong Stadium. 20MAY95

Fifa Women’s World Cup: England legend Ian Wright backs Lionesses in semi-final battle with US

Steph Houghton of England celebrates after the quarter-final win against Norway at the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Le Havre, France. Photo: Xinhua

(190628) -- LE HAVRE (FRANCE), June 28, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Players of England celebrate scoring during the quarterfinal between England and Norway at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in Le Havre, France, on June 27, 2019. England won 3-0. (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)

01 July 2019, France, Lyon: US Megan Rapinoe grabs her hair during the training session for the USA women national soccer team ahead of Tuesday's FIFA Women's World Cup semi final soccer match against England. Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa

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Sport

Football

Gunners hero wants club to keep star strikers and strengthen Unai Emery’s squad
Former striker admits he would have been tempted with move to Chinese Super League


Gunners hero wants club to keep star strikers and strengthen Unai Emery’s squad


Chinese Super League

Arsenal legend Ian Wright on new Adidas kit, ‘magnificent’ Wilfried Zaha and Gazza being almost as good as Dennis Bergkamp

Gunners hero wants club to keep star strikers and strengthen Unai Emery’s squad Former striker admits he would have been tempted with move to Chinese Super League

Gunners hero wants club to keep star strikers and strengthen Unai Emery’s squad

Former striker admits he would have been tempted with move to Chinese Super League