The former Chelsea and Man City legend discusses his former clubs' recent signings and their performances so far in the 2026/27 Premier League season.
Shaun Wright-Phillips believes Chelsea may have the signing of the season in World Cup winner Emi Martinez, and says Xabi Alonso will know how to get the best out of Cole Palmer.
Chelsea are currently 14/1 in the Premier League betting odds, behind favourites Arsenal and Man City.
In our exclusive interview, the former Man City winger also discusses how the new-look midfield of Elliot Anderson, Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi will gel together under Enzo Maresca, and the need for Rayan Cherki to be given the freedom to make magic happen.
City have won five out of five in the Premier League and Champions League to start life under Enzo Maresca. How do you think they’ve looked in those games?
I think the new signings, Enzo and Bouaddi, are massive signings. Before they came in, I think there’s a lot of people looking at the squad and thinking, “they’re a little bit light after losing so many players.” But I think since those two and Allan have come in, you’re starting to see a much deeper City squad. Yeah, it will take time to gel, it isn’t going to happen overnight. But in many ways, people are saying they haven’t been at their best and they’ve won five out of five. You couldn’t ask for a better start, especially as a manager with a group of players that are still trying to get going and gel and link up together.
City have seen Rodri and Bernardo Silva leave over the summer. Which players would you back to step up and become leaders for the future of the club?
I wouldn’t say there’s a certain person. I think if you look at the days when Chelsea were winning the title, even when Arsenal just won the title and Man Utd were winning the title, there wasn’t just one leader on the pitch. I think you’re going to need leaders all over the pitch. You’ve already got one in Ruben Dias. I think Enzo will naturally grow into that sort of leadership role as well in terms of what I saw from him at Chelsea.
Bouaddi, you would like him to, but he’s only 18, so you have to respect his age at the same time. But the way he looks, he looks mature enough already. I’ve seen him speak to Ruben and I don’t know what he’s telling him, but he’s giving him information and they are passing information back. So you can see he’s got those capabilities as well.
Haaland leads in those areas and Phil Foden’s been there long enough. It sounds silly, I know they’re quite young and I think they’re possibly one of the youngest average age teams in the Premier League, but they have a lot of experience in that team, in terms of the amount of games they’ve played, to be able to now for step up and if they need to take on that leadership role.
Man City have invested heavily in rebuilding their midfield with Anderson, Fernandez and Bouaddi. How do you think that midfield will gel and where do they rank among the best midfields in the Premier League?
I think it’s early to say. It’s only four games into the season in terms of the best midfield in the league. I think Bouaddi’s still new to the Premier League. We know what Enzo can do because we’ve seen him do it at Chelsea and we know what Elliot Anderson can do. So, if you can get those two playing to the way they were before they came to City, which you’ve seen glimpses and phases of them doing it already, and Bouaddi picks up where he left off in the World Cup, you could arguably say it will be up there in terms of the best midfield in the Premier League.
But they have to prove it. I think in football, especially in the Premier League, it’s not about how big your name is, or how much you come for. You have to put it on to the pitch.
I think once they do that, people will then start to see what City’s plans were in getting these players. You don’t even have to play all three of them. You’ve got Cherki, you’ve got Phil [Foden] that can go in there. The midfield now is starting to look quite stacked. And Nico O’Reilly is a natural midfielder, so there’s another one, and we’ve seen him boss the Champions League about in that holding midfield in position.
There’s a lot that City have to offer, especially in terms of wingers and attackers. Semenyo can play all the way across the front. You’ve got Allan, you’ve got Cherki, who plays on both sides as well as the number 10, Phil, Doku.
You’re starting to see it come through and I think our defence is quite good. I love our defence. I think once they all click together, that’ll be a force to reckon with. But in terms of now, everything takes time. You’ve seen it with Arsenal, you’ve seen it with all the clubs that bring in a load of new players. Hopefully it gels quickly, it takes time, but they’ve started off well.
What did you think of Bouaddi’s debut? At 18, is Bouaddi ready to start regularly in the Premier League and Champions League?
I would like him to, but he’s still got to learn the tactics and learn the ropes. I think Enzo’s got a bit of a head start in terms of he’s been with the manager before. Otherwise, he could have been in that same position as well. The flashes I’ve seen of him, I don’t think I’ve seen somebody as calm as him on the ball in that position in the Premier League at the age 18.
He just knows where to put his body. He’s a big person as well, and he plays those passes that cut lines as well. I’ve seen him drive with the ball, so he’s got a lot of aspects to him.
Which current City player do you most enjoy watching and why?
Especially if you say right now, I think a lot of people will say the same. I know sometimes these sort of players can give the ball away when you need them to keep it, but when you have players like Cherki in a team that can just make magic happen, that’s what I grew up on believing football always will have.
I remember playing with Adel Taraabt, he was like that. The likes of your Robinho’s and players like that. They are tense when they’re meant to just be like, “just do whatever you want, we’ll pick up the pieces if it doesn’t work. Just keep knocking on that door because eventually the door will open” sort of thing.
Chelsea look a more dangerous team going forward now they have added Morgan Rogers. Is ‘JP Morgan’ the best front three in the Premier League?
Definitely. I’ll definitely put them up there in the top attackers in the Premier League for this season. Cole Palmer, you know what he’s like. I won’t say he’s similar to Cherki, because he can handle the wing side I think a bit better than Cherki, but he’s great. His creativity is something else. I saw his goal against Leeds the other night, where he goes to volley it, but he faints his body and just kind passes it around him – he’s an unbelievable player.
Everybody can see what Morgan Rodgers can do at Aston Villa, and for him to go to Chelsea with a lot more attacking players around him of his standards and understanding makes a hell of a difference. I don’t think people on the outside will ever get how much of a difference it makes, but it makes a hell of a lot of difference. So, for him to be in that position, you can see him oozing with confidence, like the goal against Arsenal. He just thought, ‘I’m going to have a try’. Whereas at Aston Villa, he might not have done that just in case the keeper catches it and they get caught on a break.
Joao Pedro, he’s just special, isn’t he? How he didn’t go to the World Cup, I honestly have no clue. But he’s a fun player to watch as well. So yeah, I’ll definitely put them up there.
Would you back Xabi Alonso’s tactics and system to help Cole Palmer regain the form he struggled to find last season?
His best position is to let him be free. Let him be able to express himself. People have asked me that question before and I always say, “well, Alonso got the best out of Florian Wirtz.” So, if he knows how to make Wirtz play, he knows how to make a Cole Palmer play.
If he builds up that team, especially when Caicedo comes back in that midfield, that frees Palmer up a little bit more. He’s started off on fire and normally, when you have players like that that start off with goals and assists, they tend to continue that way. So, his confidence will be sky high now.
Chelsea slightly changed their approach to transfers this summer, adding more experienced players as opposed to young talent. What did you make of that change in strategy and what will Henderson, Welbeck and Martinez bring to the club?
I think they’ve gone round it the right way for me, personally. Martinez – I think that they needed him and he could possibly be one of the buyers of the season. A World Cup winner at the price that they got him at. I watched him against Arsenal and some of the saves he made, the result could have been a lot different. So that’s what they were missing.
Welbeck for me is a no-brainer. I think Welbeck has delivered everywhere he’s gone. Absolutely everywhere. The only thing that hindered his career was injury, and since he went to Brighton, that’s kind of faded away. He’s very rarely injured. So, for me, Chelsea needed it. Chelsea needed a no.9 like that, and that was why they bought Delap. They thought Delap would’ve been able to be that kind of player, to hold up crosses in the box.
But Welbeck, his goal the other day where he just chopped it back against Leeds. I was like, “yes, Welly!” He deserves everything he gets, because he’s had it hard in football in terms of injuries and stuff like that. And his mental strength is something to be commended.
Do you think Chelsea need to find a way to get Estevao into the team regularly?
I honestly don’t know. The only way for me to get him in is if they get rid of the wing backs, and I don’t think Xabi will do that for now, because it was successful for him at Bayer Leverkusen. I don’t think he will change it, so I’m worried about what’s going to happen with Estevao.
Who do you think are the most exciting young wingers both in the Premier League and in Europe?
I really enjoy watching Estevao. I don’t know how he’s going to play at Chelsea this year because from what I’ve seen, a few of the times there’s been a lot of wing backs. So, I’m not sure how it works for him there. But for me, I think he’s a fantastic player to watch. He keeps the ball, but he does the other part that everybody wants to see as well. He gets the crowd off their feet, scores goals. I think he’s a delightful player to watch.
I do like [Yankuba] Minteh as well, but he just needs to work on his end product a little bit more. I do enjoy watching him. There’s quite a few out there, but I’d say Estevao is the one for me that I’m hoping gets a lot more game time because I think he will just grow.
Who do you think was the best signing of the Premier League transfer window?
I think Emi Martinez does have the potential to be. I think he does in terms of the value he brings to the team, and the goals he will stop Chelsea from conceding will pump them higher into those European positions, which they struggled with last year. So for me, he could possibly be one of the signings of the season.
What are your top-4 predictions?
I think City get in there, because they have the qualities to win games. City will definitely be in there. Arsenal is just a banker for me, because they’ve added to that strong squad that they’ve got. Their defence is just scary. I think Chelsea get in there and Liverpool. I think Man Utd just miss it.
To be fair, I think Spurs will also pick up. All they need is that somebody up there to score a goal. They’ve got strikers, they’ve got a good midfield. On paper, that defence is good. How they’ve started the way they’ve started, I don’t know. But now, hopefully, they build because you want all the big clubs up there. It makes the title chase even better, and it makes the top half better.
Do you think Cole Palmer should have gone to the World Cup?
He’s the player we missed at the World Cup – somebody that would just go ‘I’m going to have a shot here’ or ‘I’m going to try this’. I don’t think Tuchel was wrong. It’s easy for everybody to say it now – “if Cole was there or Phil was there”. It’s easy for us to say that.
I don’t think Tuchel’s decision was wrong because you can’t just bring players that don’t have a good enough season compared to the players he’s picked. Otherwise, you’re turning around and saying that no matter how well you play, these players are always going to be in the squad in front of you, regardless. You can’t do that. I think the way Tuchel picked it was fair. Whether we agree with it is something completely different.
Do you think it is the right decision to keep Thomas Tuchel after semi-final loss at the World Cup?
I’m always going to back my manager. In football, there’s always waves, and we can talk about all the games in the World Cup. The one thing that stood out to me a lot, apart from in that semi-final, is when we had moments, we took our moments. And the big players stepped up.
That was the difference between when we lost to Italy. We didn’t take our moments. To see us take our moments when we might be against the run of play was a massive step for me.
Now, in the next tournament, if we can up our all-round 90 minutes gameplay and take our moments, what are people going to say now? Give Tuchel time. It’s his first tournament with them. He’s got another tournament to come. Give him that tournament. Give him his time.
