Ian Wright’s hand in the Cooney-Cross transfer
Arsenal legend Ian Wright has come out in his podcast ‘Wrighty’s House’ saying he begged Arsenal Women’s Steph Catley at the World Cup in Australia to play as agent Catley and convince transfer deadline day signing Cooney-Cross that Arsenal was the right place for her.
Ian Wright spent a lot of time working at the Women’s World Cup this year in Australia and NZ and when Australia faced off against Canada on the 31st of July, Kyra Cooney-Cross had a standout performance and caught Wrighty’s eye. Posting the now iconic tweet on twitter that night “Cooney-Cross bro”, Wrighty was set on doing everything he could to bring her to Arsenal.
Cooney-Cross bro 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾
— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) July 31, 2023
Saying in his podcast that he ran into Arsenal Women’s defender Steph Catley down the tunnel after their 4-0 victory over Canada and said “Steph, Kyra Cooney-Cross man…Listen, I can make some calls to my people but you’re there on the ground” and “We’ve got to get her Steph. We’ve got to get her at our place. Have some words, see if it’s something she might want to do”.
Wrighty confessed he had followed up that conversation with some texts messages with Catley and had told her to “make some moves” for the Matilda’s star. All went quiet until deadline day when Jonas Eidevall and his Recruitment staff swooped in for the well sought after midfielder and got the deal done.
Catley has since retweeted the snippet from the podcast with a saluting emoji, confirming her part in getting the 21-year-old to Arsenal. Cooney-Cross will join fellow Matilda stars Catley and Caitlin Foord in the red and white of North London, which will probably make the bedding in process much easier.
“Afterwards we did a little bit of texting and then bam!”
Ian Wright recalls how Steph Catley played agent and helped Arsenal sign Kyra Cooney-Cross 🤝
From the Matildas to the Gunners 🇦🇺
📸: @ArsenalWFC#BarclaysWSL #OptusSport pic.twitter.com/nHIoiBveoV
— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) September 21, 2023
At just 21-years-old Cooney-Cross is a clever pick up by Eidevall and his staff, with plenty of talent already shown so far, she has clear potential to go as far as she wants to and in an environment like ours, I expect her to flourish quickly and bring a lot to the Arsenal Women’s side this season. Some Arsenal Women’s fans may not have seen much of her yet but will be soon thanking both Wrighty and Catley once Cooney-Cross gets going.
What’s your thoughts Gooner fans?
Daisy Mae
Follow JustArsenal’s Gooner Women on Just Gooner Women on Twitter for regular updates on the Arsenal Womens Team!
Do you want to read more about the Arsenal Women’s Team? Click here….
