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Wright explains why he ‘hated’ Alan Shearer during his playing days

Ian Wright has revealed why he ‘hated’ Alan Shearer during their playing days, admitting the forward’s record-breaking goalscoring exploits left him feeling jealous.

The former Arsenal star is now a close friend of the Premier League‘s all-time record goalscorer with the duo regularly seen in tandem around the Match of the Day table, however, their close bond was not always the case during careers spent leading the division’s scoring charts.

Wright remains the second-highest goalscorer in Arsenal’s history and scored 113 Premier League goals throughout his career, though that figure is some way adrift of three-time Golden Boot winner Shearer, who plundered a record 260 goals during prolific spells at Blackburn and Newcastle.

Wright admits Shearer’s feats left him hating for the Geordie goal-getter, and believes the ‘enormity’ of the forward’s achievements are still not realised by the footballing public.

“Proud to call him my friend now… but when we were playing I hated him – simply because of his hunger to score goals on a weekly basis,” Wright said on his YouTube channel.

“You come in and you’ve scored two, Shearer scores three. If you scored two, Shearer scored one. If you score three, Shearer scores two.

“So you never catch up with him. And we’re talking about someone who had three years out of the game with real bad injuries and he’s still got 260. He’s still way out in front.

“I’m not sure really people realise the enormity of his achievement.”

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See also – Remembering the six top scorers from the 94/95 Premier League season

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