The 55-year-old asked Wenger to go for McCarthy when he left the Gunners in the late 1990s simply because of his finishing
Arsenal legend Ian Wright has offered Premier Soccer League (PSL) strikers a piece of free advice on how they can improve their scoring.
The South African elite league has been short of strikers who can score over 20 goals every season, and Wright said it’s time for the majority these forwards to put more effort in their finishing, starting from the training grounds.
Wright was speaking to the South African media following Orlando Pirates‘ 2-0 win over rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the CBL Cup on Saturday afternoon.
“I think it’s very difficult to score goals in any league. In respect to trying to find forwards, it’s very difficult and sometimes it comes in waves. For me, watching the game today, I saw a lot of players who could probably have fed me, and that’s what it comes to,” Wright told the media.
“It comes down to how much you want to practice in respect of your own finishing. I finished every day after practice – finish with my left foot and finish with my right foot. There is so much that goes into it. To just sit and say the guys are not scoring enough goals, it’s quite a damning thing to say for me personally.
“I concentrated on hitting the target even in training. I never messed around at stage to miss the target so that.
“So, it’s not something that you all of a sudden start producing the players that can score goals, but it’s up to the players themselves to want to get better, watch the best.
“See which midfielders you’ve got around you and it’s up to the coaches to make sure they can get the ball into areas where forwards can score goals.”
The former England marksman, who netted nine goals in 39 international matches for the Three Lions, made a shock revelation toward the end of his interview.
Wright revealed how he once asked Arsene Wenger to sign former Bafana Bafana and FC Porto striker Benni McCarthy for Arsenal.
He said McCarthy, who is now the head coach of Cape Town City, was one of the best finishers he had seen at the time.
“I could talk about Benni McCarthy. Benni McCarthy was somebody that when I left Arsenal, I said to Arsene, ‘get Benni McCarthy’ because he is one of the best finishers I’ve seen in and around that time,” he concluded.
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