Ian Wright has hit out at former chief executive Ivan Gazidis in the wake of Arsenal breaking their transfer record to sign Nicolas Pepe.
The Gunners have shelled out £72million to capture the Ivory Coast winger who had scored 37 times in his 79 appearances for previous club Lille.
Former Arsenal striker Wright has been critical of the club’s decline from the dominant force in English football to a Europa League team and took the opportunity to remind Gazidis, now chief executive AC Milan, of exactly what he thought his time at the Emirates.
‘I’ve got to give credit to Raul [Sanllehi, head of football] and the senior leadership of our club. This is exceptionally good business. This is unbelievable. This is the kind of business Arsenal have missed for so long,’ Wright said.
‘We could mention that other fool that was there – but I won’t because I’m in a positive vein now. This is the kind of player [about whom] we’d usually be saying ‘I wish we’d have got him’. Well, we’ve got him.
‘It’s a deal we assumed would never be done but it’s brilliant. This is the kind of player who, once he settles in, I personally think we’ve got a world-class player on our hands.
‘I’m not being over the top, I’m not being over-excited. I genuinely believe that from what I’ve seen of him. He ticks so many boxes in terms of goals and assists but for me it’s the directness. We miss that.
‘We miss a player that can take players on one-on-one and beat them. A player who can receive the ball, dribble, turn and run at players. No defenders want to face that. I’m very excited about it.’
Wright was also quick to praise Arsenal for attempting to tie Matteo Guendouzi down to a new contract even though he only arrived at the club last summer.
‘This is what we should have been doing years ago. Now, someone upstairs has actually got their finger on the button, knowing we need to sign players,’ Wright added.
‘We signed Matteo last year ago for £8m. People are now in for him for £30m. That’s the kind of business that we are starting to do.
‘This is why the people upstairs now are starting to get it. We are getting into people before their contracts run down and that is great business. I love what they are doing.’
Pepe is the second major signing of Arsenal’s summer transfer window with defender William Saliba having already put pen to paper in a deal worth around £27m.
However, he has rejoined St Etienne on loan and Wright is more than aware that Emery still needs to shore up his defence.
‘We do need a left-back and a centre-back. Hopefully Hector [Bellerin] will come back firing but is there cover for Hector? We need to start looking at that,’ Wright said.
‘We’ve still got a little bit of time to go so hopefully that can happen. But you’ve got to say now that when you look at the players that we’ve got and this squad – young players, offensive players, Reiss [Nelson], Eddie [Nketiah], Joe [Willock], who had decent pre-season – you have to say it’s not a Europa League squad any more.
‘Arsenal and Unai have got a massive season ahead and if those last two deals go ahead, then there are no excuses for the boss or anyone.
‘That team and that squad should be more than good enough to get us into that top four.’
