In our exclusive interview, the Man City and Chelsea legend discusses the upcoming Club World Cup, his former club’s recent signings and who Chelsea should target in the transfer market.
Shaun Wright-Phillips believes Manchester City got a “bargain” in signing Rayan Cherki from Lyon, and is also impressed by the acquisitions of Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders.
City are among the favourites in the FIFA Club World Cup betting and have acted quickly to bring in new faces before the summer tournament, which kicks off on 15 June.
In our exclusive interview, the former City and Chelsea winger also discusses how players will approach the new Club World Cup format and the latest transfer rumours involving both clubs.
What’s your opinion of the new Club World Cup format and are you looking forward to attending it?
The format is an interesting one. For the players, the coaching staff and even the fans, it’s incredibly hard in terms of mental and physical strength. It’s a long, long tournament, and I’m kind of confused why they felt the need to put so many teams in it, to be totally honest with you. Along with the Champions League, it reminds me of the format that they were trying to get through with the Super League, which got snuffed out.
In terms of player welfare, I’m not strongly a fan of it but as an ex-player I understand that once the tournament’s on and you’re a club in it, you’re going to want to win it. As tired as you are, you will give it your all. It’s just a matter of the managers figuring out how do they manage this with pre-season, and if they get to the final how to they find players rest time when the season kicks off around 10 days later?
But as a football fan, I’m gonna be looking forward to it, especially to see the new signings.
How seriously do you think the managers will take the tournament?
I think they’ll be going all out to win it. I don’t think any of the managers will be going out there for a jolly up. I don’t think any of them have that in their criteria when it comes to major tournaments, and this is a major tournament whether we like where it’s slotted or whether we like the format or not. This is a massive tournament and it’s a massive reward for a club to win it and achieve that goal.
Do you think any players will be concerned about getting injured ahead of next season?
In your head, you might think that, but when you cross the white line it’s completely different, I find. I think a lot of the players that are in it are exactly the same. It’s hard to play 50 per cent. Whether you’ve got an injury or the coach says to be careful, that goes out of your head as soon as you cross that white line and I can imagine all those players are going to be thinking, “we’re not losing this game.” The mentality is going to be to win every game. Of course it doesn’t always work out to plan, but nobody will walk out there 50 per cent – they will go for it.
Do you think the summer transfer window will affect the way players and managers approach the tournament?
I think it will be tricky. Some players will be there to be on show, and do well so the eyes are on them. There’ll be some players there thinking, “well, I don’t want to get injured because if I get injured this club might not take me, and I might have to sit on the bench or in the stands until January.”
Nevertheless, if there is a manager there and they’ve made their opinions clear with the direction the club wants to go in, I don’t think most managers would take the players to a major tournament. They might just leave them back so they can sort their affairs out.
Man City would be disappointed with how last season ended for them – is the Club World Cup a chance to build some momentum heading into next season?
It’s always mad. I’ve had this conversation so many times, which has been unusual for Man City, but I think it’s because they’ve set the standard so high that anything short of it becomes a terrible, terrible season. They’re perfectionists – you see the way Pep [Guardiola] is, he always wants to win. If he’s not winning, it’s like the cogs are going around in his head sometimes, and I think it’s fascinating. I think it’s brilliant to see.
They haven’t had a good season in comparison to their other seasons, but if you can not have a good season and still finish third, then you’re not far off getting back to where you were.
I think in many ways we have to be more respectful of the other teams in the Premier League. People forget the bar between third to ninth or even possibly 10th – their levels have gone so high. If you look at Forest, Bournemouth, Brentford and even Fulham, they took it to a lot of those teams in the top three. They made it very, very difficult and were winning or drawing games.
City looked to have wrapped up deals for Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rayan Cherki – what do you think of the three signings, and will they all me immediate starters for City?
I personally think they’re all unbelievable players. I think it’s different in terms of slotting straight into the team because of the Club World Cup. Before the Premier League season starts, they will have played a number of games with their teammates and they will have possibly learnt all the tactics needed to go into the Premier League season, compared to if they had just signed. I can imagine they will slot in and they will give us something different, especially with Reijnders with Rodri in that midfield area. That’s like a holding and box-to-box, and we haven’t had had that combination for a while.
To have a left back in there in Ait-Nouri – I just love the way he plays. He is actually a joy to watch and to have that natural left back going down there, now we’ll cause teams other problems because they would be used to be a centre-back there cutting back. Whereas now they’re giving themselves an option of a cutback and a tricky full-back that will get to the byline and maybe smash a ball across, and that is something that people like Haaland would feed off.
With Cherki, he’s a fantastic player. I almost think he’s a bargain, to be honest with you. I think that if they get him in that’s a massive buy – two-footed player, creates chances, scores goals and does the hard yards as well. Once he learns the tactics, I think he will shine. If you give him too much space, he is the type of player that will can hurt you in multiple ways.
It is very crazy that nobody until now has tried to get him. Hopefully City are the lucky ones who pull that off.
Could having those new signings join the team for competitive games be an advantage for City and Chelsea early in the season?
It could possibly work that way. If everything goes according to plan and there is no injury, the players that come in, depending on what happens in this tournament, they may have no friendly games but these games will be at a higher tempo, more physical and a lot more real compared to your preseason games, where you might only play 45 minutes the first game and 50 minutes the second game.
When the season starts, City players should be a little bit fitter. If they get to the final, they should be much fitter. They might be tired come Christmas, and that’s when managers need to start getting clever in terms of rotation because of all the games they’ve already played. But going into the early part of the season, they should hopefully be out of the gates quicker.
Pep Guardiola has said he wants to work with a smaller squad. Which City players could you see leaving this summer?
You never know. Obviously, Kevin [de Bruyne] is gone. I saw rumours of Bernardo [Silva] but that rumour has been there for the last four years. So I’m not sure about Bernardo’s situation. I thought James McAtee might be on the way out, not because the club don’t want him but more because he wants to play more. He wants to learn the trade and play the game more regularly, so I thought he might be one.
But from what I see, and the way Pep’s been over the years, I should imagine there’s at least three or four. I see Pep as a man that doesn’t like to leave people out in the stand. I think Jack [Grealish] will be gone.
Where has it gone wrong for Jack Grealish over the past year?
I don’t want to say it’s similar to my situation, but there are similarities in terms of when Jack leaves Villa for City, he’s going to a team that plays a different way and doesn’t need him to open all the doors. You could say he feels he doesn’t need to anymore because he can play a different style of football, and that style of football among his goals and he’s dribbling won him multiple trophies. Even though people were giving him stick for it, he played crucial parts in so many big games, even if he didn’t score.
So for me, I think he’s done really, really well with City, but then you’ve got your football fans that would say he’s not playing like he did at Villa. In many ways, that’s kind of normal because when he was at Villa, as soon as Villa won the ball, he got the ball straight away, and there’s acres of space. Teams didn’t drop back against Villa. He very rarely gets the ball in acres of space with City because there’s normally 10 people behind the ball. There isn’t as much space for him to drift around or maybe even try and dribble, because as soon as he gets the ball there’s two people on him. So now you’re asking him to risk the ball all the time, and if he loses it all the time, then the chances are he won’t play all the time. You have to find the balance and if anything it has made him a more well-rounded footballer than he was.
Is there a club you’d like to see him join to help him rebuild his career, particularly with the World Cup in a year’s time?
The bricks haven’t fallen down on his career. For me, it’s just a bit of confidence needed, and maybe you might say a bit of freedom, but then if he goes to Villa, does he get that freedom? Because people set a low block against Villa as well. Villa are one of those teams who if you don’t, they will dismantle you. So most teams are scared of Villa as well.
You can kind of feel like right now, just so he gets that enjoyment back in football, he needs to be at a team who no one’s scared of. Then there will be more spaces around the pitch for him to float into, for him to dribble on. There’ll be more one-on-one situations for him so he can go inside or outside.
When he’s at City, they’re only leaving room to go down the wing or just pass it back. But he gets a lot of stick because he isn’t trying to go past two people all the time. I just think that’s insane. Like, not even half of the best players in the world go past two people all the time, but Jack’s the one that seems to get a lot of stick, which I think is quite unfair.
Kalvin Phillips is also still on City’s books – where could he be looking to move this summer?
For Kalvin, it’s playing. He just needs game time – just games, games, games. I think for him it’ll come back naturally. Since Bielsa, for him, football’s changed. Bielsa was quite gung-ho, aggressive, no one’s allowed to stop running, you pressure, you tackle, you win the ball and you pass to the players that are gonna hurt other teams.
It was difficult to play against at first, but once teams realised they can break the press, but that’s when Leeds got to the point where although they were causing teams problems, they were getting beat.
But Kalvin just needs to play. Once he gets back to that hustle and bustle, I think Kalvin Phillips will be back.
Noni Madueke won Man of the Match for England recently but has been linked with a move away from Chelsea. Is he someone they should be holding onto?
I did see that last week and was quite confused, especially knowing that he’s not only plays for Chelsea, he plays for England as well. I’m not sure, personally, why they would want to move him on because out of all the wingers, he’s probably been the best one, or the most consistent one.
Enzo Maresca has obviously got a plan in his head and that plan maybe needs a different type of winger. I won’t necessarily say it’s because they don’t like him, or they don’t think he’s good enough. I just think maybe they need a different type of winger.
They’ve been linked with Jamie Bynoe-Gittens from Dortmund – would he be a good signing?
He is a very, very good player. It’s a strange one because they’re gonna clearly play him on the left because that’s where I see him mostly for Dortmund – he’s running down the left wing, but Noni [Madueke] doesn’t really play on the left, anyway. That’s normally Sancho.
I think he’ll be a wicked signing for Chelsea if they can get him. Can you imagine Gittens and Pedro Neto? Defenders would be scared naturally, and they both know how to keep the ball very well as well. I think he’d be a wicked signing, and I’d just love to see him in England again, to be honest.
What do you make of the Liam Delap signing and does he have what it takes to be Chelsea’s No. 9?
I loved what he did last season, at the club he did it at, how he did it, with a lot less chances than other strikers have had. And his work rate as well, he’s kind of like a robust, old-school striker, and he’s very tekky. He’s got a lot of skills to his game as well.
I think that’s just what Chelsea needs. He will hold the ball up, he’ll bring your wingers into play and he’s perfect for Cole Palmer because he stretches the game and he can be a wall pass as well. If there are clear cut chances, it’s very rare that he misses, and I know he misses a quite a small percentage of the chances that he gets. With the difficult chances in the box and when he’s one-on-one with the defender, he tries to always make the keeper work, which is a really positive thing and I think he could be the person that could lift that curse.
They’ve been linked with other strikers including Hugo Ekitike, but should Chelsea feel comfortable going into the season with Delap and Nicolas Jackson as their strikers?
I would, to be honest with you, especially watching Nicolas Jackson’s improvement from the season before to the season just gone. We’ve got to remember, they were sitting third and pushing for second and first before Christmas, and that was just with Jackson.
I believe that those two are strong enough. If Ekitike comes in, I’m kind of confused then because are you saying you’re done with Jackson? Because I can’t imagine them playing 3-4-3, and I don’t see it being two strikers up there. They’ve got the players to play 3-5-2, but I can’t see them saying to Jackson, “we’ve signed two strikers, for everything you’ve done, you have to sit down.” As much stick as he gets, his stats are actually good.
I think Delap pretty much does everything Jackson does. They’re not far apart, I just think Liam gives you a bit more stability. He will make it really, really hard for defenders and he will get under people’s skin. I think he might be the person to change that cursed position, and he was brave enough to take that No. 9 shirt. That is a man with confidence, isn’t it?
Chelsea have also been linked with Alejandro Garnacho – is he a player they should target after his public falling out with Ruben Amorim?
It’s a hard one because I do think he’s a fantastic winger. I like wingers that try and take on their defenders, entertain, because that’s what I based my game off – entertaining the crowd, trying to make the full-back’s life hell. Garnacho does that in multiple ways.
The problem the world’s got at the minute is that there’s a place for every player now to say what they think, just like there’s a place for every fan and every manager, in terms of social media and interviews going everywhere. He was obviously hurt by the decision not to start him in the final, which, to be honest, I didn’t understand either considering he had started all the other games and played really well in most of them. But before the game the manager’s seen something tactically different – whether it worked or didn’t work. When he brings him on, that’s when the game changed and it was more United than Spurs, because he was causing them all sorts of problems.
It obviously hurt him deeply, and I think the manager should have just pulled him aside and said, “look, I know you were hurt but you could have just come and said it to me, you didn’t have to go public.” But he’s gone public.
I just think there’s a better way for the manager and the club to handle it. I don’t think they should be getting rid of key players like that, because the same thing in many ways has happened to Kobbie Mainoo without even saying anything. He’s just not been playing either and he was that golden child, as well, about a year ago. It’s either that or they’re trying to raise money from players they’ve not had to pay for. Because some of their selling, I’m not really understanding.
What do you think of Chelsea’s potential sale of Kepa Arrizabalaga to Arsenal?
I’m confused. I don’t understand. It’s like nobody’s been watching Kepa this season. He’s been unbelievable. He is part of the reason why Bournemouth finished where they finished. The defence was outstanding, but Kepa was unbelievable, as well, I thought. I assumed while the season was going on that Chelsea didn’t need to buy a goalkeeper because Kepa was going back anyway, but that isn’t to be the case.
You can have as good a goalkeeper as you want, but if you’re still going to make the same mistakes in defence, your goalkeeper is still going to concede. That’s just the fact of the matter. Alisson pulls off amazing saves when he’s needed. Half the time he has to pull off a save, it’s not forced errors. So if Chelsea can get their defence like that, where they’re not making him make unnecessary saves he shouldn’t have to make, then I think Kepa is your man to keep. You don’t need to forage around.
Most managers now are looking for goalkeepers that are good with their feet. I think Kepa’s alright with his feet, but he might not be at the level they want him to be. But for me, it’s a real strange one.
What are your expectations for City next season?
From a City perspective, I can imagine they’re going to go for what they went for this season, and that is win the title or at least push Liverpool until that last day, and try and win every game possible. I think so far, they’ve made very good signings that will help with that.
