Ian Wright says Arsenal must learn from ‘disappointing’ transfer mistake | Football

Ian Wright urged Arsenal to learn from their decision to sell Mika Biereth as the young striker continues to light it up at Monaco.

The Gunners signed Biereth from Fulham in 2021 after the Dane scored an impressive 21 goals in 22 appearances for the Under-18 side.

However, Biereth never made an appearance for Arsenal’s senior team, with the striker failing to convince Mikel Arteta he was up to the challenge despite promising loan spells at RKC Waalwijk, Motherwell and Sturm Graz.

Arsenal decided to sell Biereth to Sturm Graz permanently last year, but it wasn’t long before Biereth was on the move again, signing for Monaco in January.

And since then the 22-year-old has been in remarkable form, registering 12 goals and two assists in his first ten games, including three hat-tricks.

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Such exploits saw Biereth receive his first call-up to Denmark’s senior team over the recent international break, with the striker picking up where he left off on his return to Monaco, recovering from an early missed penalty to score in the second half as his side won 2-1 over Nice.

And with Arsenal seeing their Premier League title bid fade away in part due to a lack of a goalscoring centre forward, Wright urged his former club to learn from the errors having let the prolific striker slip through their grasps.

‘If I’m honest it must’ve been something with the plans Arsenal had,’ Wright told GFFN when asked why Biereth didn’t succeed at Arsenal.

‘Mika should’ve been in and around it at the moment. One of our chats early on was about him showing himself in the preseason for Arsenal and giving it his best go.

‘But he had the bravery to go to Scotland, then Austria and now France and that is what shows he wants to be the best! He has to be playing to prove that. His record speaks for itself. It’s disappointing for Arsenal but on a human level, I’m delighted for him.’

Wright can perhaps claim some credit for Biereth’s remarkable rise having personally mentored the striker when he was a youngster coming through in north London.

‘I have to always give Mika the credit for proactively reaching out to me years agom’ Wright added. ‘He was looking for advice on where he was at with his game, with the club and what he should do next.

‘I will always give him credit for that because it’s very easy to not make yourself vulnerable to someone else. After he contacted me, we met at my local pub and we have stayed in touch since.’

While Arsenal’s hopes of overturning Liverpool’s 12-point league lead look slim, Arteta’s side are still in the hunt for silverware as they gear up for their Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid.

In fact, it will be the first time that the two sides have met in a competitive fixture since their last-16 clash in the Champions League back in March 2006.

The Gunners will hope to be boosted by the long-awaited return of Bukayo Saka who has spent more than three months on the sidelines after undergoing surgery on a hamstring injury.

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