EXCLUSIVE
When a club really wants a particular player, sometimes it might be best to use their mates to have a little chat with them.
That certainly happened at Chelsea, when former manager Bobby Campbell was desperate to sign a young Ian Wright.
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The striker was tearing it up at Crystal Palace in 1990 when Campbell asked Andy Townsend to have a word with Wright and try convince him to move to Stamford Bridge - and it nearly worked.
Townsend told talkSPORT Drive: "It is very natural for clubs when a particular team have a player that they fancy and you know, they ask you do a bit of the dirty work.
"They ask you to find out about certain players. I'll never forget the one that got away, if you like. Bobby Campbell, god rest him, Chelsea manager.
"I remember when Wrighty was at Palace and he was really, really hungry to move on somewhere else. He made the right call, he went to Arsenal where he won things.
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"I remember Bobby Campbell telling me, 'I am desperate to get Ian Wright'. I remember talking to Wrighty as we walked off once at Selhurst Park saying, 'Would you come to Chelsea?' and Wrighty said, 'Yeah, I would!'.
"Whether or not he would have, there would have been loads of people talking to Wrighty at the time, I am sure. But that sort of thing goes on."
Wright instead joined Arsenal where he became a club legend, scoring 185 goals to make him second on the all time list behind Thierry Henry.
Now a well-loved pundit on television, he won the Premier League and FA Cup double under Arsene Wenger in 1998 as well as two FA Cups, the League Cup and Cup Winners Cup.
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Townsend was speaking to talkSPORT about Real Madrid's interest in Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Jude Bellingham, his England teammate, is a key player there and it would not be surprising if it emerged he had simply asked his pal if he'd fancy joining him at the Bernabeu.
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