For Shaun Wright-Phillips, the collision of his two former clubs always takes him back to a taxi ride that changed the trajectory of his career.
Wright-Phillips was about to play in a pre-season game for Manchester City but with the club’s financial situation unravelling behind-the-scenes, a £21million offer from Chelsea offered salvation from the impending meltdown. Not that he was aware ahead of a transfer that was like a “bolt from the blue”.
“As a young kid – especially when you’re happy – you just think you’re going to be playing somewhere forever but unfortunately it wasn’t to be,” he tells i ahead of Chelsea’s visit to the Etihad this weekend.
“I found out later they had to sell me or they were in a lot of financial trouble. It was a pre-season game under Stuart Pearce and a few of the senior players said to me ‘It’s not safe for you to play in this game’.
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Jose Mourinho and Chelsea fans ultimately proved welcoming as he justified the price tag. “Chelsea taught me to be a different player,” he says. “I didn’t need to hug the touchline, I didn’t need to be the player that took the man on and had to create all the time anymore.”
Fast-forward 17 years and the transformation in Manchester City has been jaw-dropping. They are no longer the feeder club, now the country’s dominant side and with no side of relinquishing that title despite Liverpool and Chelsea snapping at their heels in the first part of the campaign.
After a Christmas in which they proved peerless, Pep Guardiola’s powerhouse – playing without a recognised striker for most of the season – welcome Chelsea in almost total control of the title race. Unless the Blues – shorn of Edouard Mendy, Ben Chilwell and Reece James – win at the Etihad it’s difficult to envisage them overhauling the reigning champions.
“It’s an exciting game but it’s Chelsea who probably need to win it more,” Wright-Phillips concludes.
“You can’t really see Man City going on a streak of losing two games and drawing four. They’re always going to put wins in there. If they drop points, they’ll still be comfortable at the top.
“Liverpool without Salah and Mane means the gap’s even bigger to Manchester City in terms of quality. So they’re overwhelming favourites now.”
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Himself a young tyro who emerged from the club’s youth system, Wright-Phillips sees a kindred spirit in the effervescent Palmer. The England under-21 international capped a brilliant performance with a memorable slogan – ‘Prem soon come’ – and there’s a feeling he is advancing to the point where he could influence Premier League games.
“He’s ready,” Wright-Phillips says, definitively. “He has everything it takes to play in a game like that, certainly in terms of talent. He’s fearless and doesn’t care who he comes up against.
“His mindframe is ‘Cole Palmer is going to do what Cole Palmer can do’. At the same time, Pep has always protected his young players so you never quite know what he’s going to do.
“The level that the Manchester City are competing at, the only way that you can be part of it is to have that belief and that little bit of arrogance that you can control a game, however big the stage is.
“That applies to the young players as well. I’m really excited by Cole.”
Wright-Phillips is carving out a career as a pundit, following in the footsteps of father Ian. But son D’Margio, who made his Stoke City debut in the FA Cup on Sunday at the age of 20, continues the family legacy.
“It was amazing and emotional to see him make his debut. I was so proud of him and he did so well,” he says.
“My dad is the emotional one, I’m the calm and collected one – or at least I try to be. My son knows what he wants, he wants to some day be in the Premier League and knows what it takes.
“I keep telling him: ‘You’re in a position now where you can make it happen’. It’s really exciting.”
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