Ian Wright names three best Premier League players of all time and snubs Mo Salah & Cristiano Ronaldo | OneFootball

Ian Wright was recently asked to name his three Premier League GOATs and neither Mohamed Salah nor Cristiano Ronaldo made the cut.

The Premier League has been home to dozens of world-class stars over the years, and picking the three best is never easy.

During a recent interview with ESPN, these were the three players that Wright ranked ahead of the rest.

Alan Shearer

Given he’s scored more goals than anyone else in the competition’s history, we can hardly begrudge this pick.

Shearer scored a record 260 goals in 441 appearances for Southampton, Blackburn and Newcastle.

His record could come under fire if Harry Kane returns to England, but with him currently at Bayern Munich, it’s safe for now.

For England, Wright played 11 games alongside Shearer and the pair combined for one goal during that time, during a 4-0 triumph against Turkey in 1992.

The pair have since become good friends and worked together on Match of the Day for a number of years.

Thierry Henry

You’d struggle to find a top-three Premier League list without Henry’s name on it.

The Frenchman was in a league of his own during his prime years with Arsenal and Wright regularly speaks highly of him.

Unfortunately, they never got to play together at Arsenal as Wright left the club one year before Henry joined.

Wright held the record as Arsenal’s all-time top scorer for eight years, until Henry eventually broke his record in 2005.

“The greatest player that we’ve ever had, I think, is Thierry Henry,” Wright said in 2020.

“As a one-off football player, footballer, skills, amazing ability, Thierry Henry for me is one of the greatest players in the Premier League ever.”

Eric Cantona

The last player that Wright named was Cantona and what a player he was.

Someone who defined the early nineties in the Premier League, Cantona had it all. Given his outrageous technical ability, coupled with his eccentric personality, it’s no wonder that he captured the imaginations of so many fans at the time.

In total, he scored 70 goals and produced 56 assists in 170 Premier League matches, averaging a goal contribution every 108.5 minutes.

Wright never got the chance to play alongside Cantona, but he has previously admitted his desire to have played with United.

“You know what, I think if I was a few years younger, I think I could have got to United,” Wright said.

“But I’m not saying I would have, I’m just saying that if I was a few years younger, I know I could have thrived in that dressing room, but… If I could have…”

“You know what, you watch Man United on a weekly basis as a striker, and you think, geez, I wish I was playing for them. Of course, of course I’m going to take those chances.

“I’m not saying I’d rather play for United. Right now, the way United were playing back then, there’s no striker that wouldn’t have.”