Arsenal were ready to sign me - but a call from Chelsea changed everything

A former Chelsea and England star has revealed that Arsene Wenger was desperate to sign him at Arsenal but Jose Mourinho managed to change the transfer tide

Shaun Wright-Phillips says he was close to signing for Arsenal but Jose Mourinho's urgent call meant he ended up at Chelsea. The former England winger won the Premier League and FA Cup under the Portuguese manager.

The son of Ian Wright began his career with Nottingham Forest before joining Manchester City's academy. He burst into first-team contention at the Etihad and admits he expected to spend the entirety of his career there.

In July 2005 he was subject to transfer interest from both London outfits. Wenger's Arsenal, the club where his father is hailed as a legend, approached Wright-Phillips despite him being happy to remain in Manchester.

But it was Chelsea who ended up winning the £21million race, no thanks to head coach Mourinho and former owner Roman Abramovich's urgency.

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"As that young kid there [at City] playing, I was quite naïve, didn't really care about silverware. I wasn't thinking about winning the Premier League. I just literally enjoyed playing football for the club I was at," said Wright-Phillips, speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet.

"So in my head, I'm thinking, 'Yeah, I'm happy. I can just stay here for the remainder of my career.' And then the pre-season comes in 2004-2005 and about two weeks before that I had a call from my agent.

"He said, 'Arsenal are interested in you.' I was like, 'Yeah, okay, but I'm happy where I am.' He said, 'Well, I don't think you have much of a choice.'

"I kind of replied, 'Well I do have much of a choice because it's me.' But it doesn't work like that. Then he called me back three days later and said, 'Right, Chelsea are interested as well.'

"Obviously, you've got Dad in one corner with the whole Arsenal thing. So they spoke to Arsene Wenger. Wenger said, 'We want him, but we want to watch him a bit more until January.'

"Mourinho and [Roman] Abramovich called in and said we're taking him now. I still said, 'I'm happy where I am', but then the club said, 'You have to go.'

"So City had a game. I think it was at Macclesfield and I remember Paul Dickov saying I was not playing today and Pearcey [Stuart Pearce] was the manager at the time. He said, 'I've been told I'm not allowed to play you.'

"So I basically got off the bus, walked into the changing room and within 10 minutes a car was outside to take me straight to London. Then I went straight to London and had the [Chelsea] medical and that was it.

"People ask me all the time, but I have no regrets. The players I played with… I was lucky. It was a joke. We had so much fun on and off the pitch, the bond that we had was incredible."

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