Ian Wright criticises Arsenal's striker 'plans' as legendary forward helps Monaco's Mika Biereth become £4m scoring sensation for Monaco

The London-born forward left Arsenal for Sturm Graz last summer after failing to break into Mikel Arteta's first-team. Monaco quickly snapped him up in January after a bright first half of the season, and since then the 22-year-old has been prolific for the French side. Now, Arsenal legend Wright has spoken about his relationship with the Denmark international and why it didn't work out for him at the Emirates.

He told Get Football News France: "If I’m honest it must’ve been something with the plans Arsenal had. Mika should’ve been in and around it at the moment. One of our chats early on was about him showing himself in the pre-season for Arsenal and giving it his best go. But he had the bravery to go to Scotland, then Austria and now France and that is what shows he wants to be the best! He has to be playing to prove that. His record speaks for itself. It’s disappointing for Arsenal but on a human level, I’m delighted for him."

Wright added: "I have to always give Mika the credit for proactively reaching out to me years ago. He was looking for advice on where he was at with his game, with the club and what he should do next. I will always give him credit for that because it’s very easy to not make yourself vulnerable to someone else. After he contacted me, we met at my local pub and we have stayed in touch since. I knew about him from his years at Fulham already, but this was more about where he was at that time. He has a great team around him so it was more talking to him as someone who has experience and bouncing off each other. He knows I’m going to push him and hold him accountable to play at his best level."

Wright has been a vocal critic of Arsenal's failure to bring in a quality centre-forward in recent times, especially with the injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus. While Biereth may never have made it at the Gunners, the decision to sell him becomes more questionable with every goal he fires in.

Biereth, who has scored 11 goals in 12 games for Monaco, will hope to fire his side to victory on Saturday in Ligue 1 against Nice.