Arsenal legend Ian Wright has admitted that Gunners figures regularly questioned the potential of one player who ‘turned into a monster’ upon being sold after two games.
The north London team have notoriously missed out on signing several future legends of the sport from Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Cristiano Ronaldo. But Wright believes Arsenal saw one slip through their fingertips while at Highbury after the club wrote him off too early in his career.
Instead, that player went ‘supernova’ elsewhere in the Premier League and became an icon for two rival teams. Wright, meanwhile, would help Arsenal win one top-flight title and add two FA Cup and an EFL Cup winners’ medals to the club’s trophy cabinet from 1991 to 1998.
Ian Wright admits Arsenal wrote Andy Cole off too soon
The player Wright thinks reached another level after Arsenal doubted them was Manchester United and Newcastle United great, Andy Cole. He joined the Gunners as an academy talent upon leaving school in 1988. But the striker ultimately left after just two senior appearances.
“[He went on loan to Bristol City] and then just absolutely hit form,” Wright has told the Stick to Football podcast. “I remember when I got there, he went on loan to Fulham, then he went on loan to Bristol, then he came back [and] then he got bought by Bristol.
“But they would say at Arsenal, people would say that he probably won’t score more than 12 goals a season with the way [that] he was and the way he played. And, to be fair to him, when he was training, Andy Cole’s how he is. He does his stuff.
“But something clicked at Bristol, then you get him to Newcastle with [Peter] Beardsley and all that lot, he turned into a monster. He went supernova. It comes down to people kind of writing people off at that age.”
Andy Cole became a legend at Newcastle and Manchester United
Cole made his only league appearance for Arsenal against Sheffield United at Highbury aged 19. He also appeared against Tottenham Hotspur in the 1991 Charity Shield but then moved on loan to Fulham. A loan spell for Bristol City also followed, who then bought Cole in 1992.
Arsenal saw flashes of Cole’s potential while away on loan, scoring four goals at Fulham and eight for Bristol City. But Newcastle spent a then-club-record £1.5m in 1993 after Cole hit 17 goals in 1992/93. His 12 goals in 12 First Division games then secured the Magpies the title.
Cole then showed Arsenal just how wrong they were when he scored 34 goals in 40 Premier League games in 1993/94. The forward would leave the Toon for Manchester United with 68 goals in 84 games come January 1995. There, he scored a further 121 goals in 275 matches.
Alex Ferguson even signed Cole over Stan Collymore in a then-club-record £6m swoop. The Red Devils’ investment and the signing of Dwight Yorke from Aston Villa eventually laid their foundations to win the treble in 1998/99. Cole regularly offered pace and poaching instincts.
Cole would leave Old Trafford for Blackburn Rovers in 2001, having won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League. His career also featured stints at Manchester City, Portsmouth, Birmingham City, Sunderland, Burnley and Nottingham Forest up to 2008.
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