Bradley Wright-Phillips

Bradley Edward Wright-Phillips (born 12 March 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker.

He is currently a host of MLS 360 on the MLS Season Pass.

He began his career with Manchester City in the Premier League, before spending the remainder of his time in England with Southampton, Plymouth Argyle, Charlton Athletic and Brentford.

Wright-Phillips was the top scorer for the Manchester City reserve team in the 2003–04 season.

On 6 December 2004, he scored his first Premier League goal, four minutes after making his league debut as a substitute for Jon Macken against Middlesbrough.

Internationally, Wright-Phillips earned five England U20 caps in 2005 and, after moving to North America, rejected the opportunity to represent Jamaica through his family background.

Wright-Phillips is the son of former Arsenal and England player Ian Wright.

His half-brother, Shaun Wright-Phillips, was his teammate at the New York Red Bulls for two seasons.

He grew up in Brockley, South London and attended the state school Kelsey Park School in Beckenham and then moved to Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College nearby in New Cross Gate.

His only goal of the following season was the last in a 4–1 win over Birmingham City on 17 December 2005.

After many frustrating appearances for Manchester City, with few goals, Wright-Phillips was sold to Championship team Southampton for £500,000 on 5 July 2006.

Half of the transfer fee was funded by a prize from Coca-Cola won in a competition by a fan.

He made an immediate impact at Southampton, scoring on his debut against Derby County at Pride Park, and scoring an impressive goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 2–0 win at St. Mary's.

He scored a total of 11 goals in the 2006–07 season.

In 2007–08 he started the season with goals against Burnley and Queens Park Rangers.

He made a total of 120 appearances for the club, scoring 24 goals.

At the end of the 2008–09 season, following Southampton's relegation to League One, Wright-Phillips was released from his contract at the club.

On 15 July 2009, he signed a two-year deal with Plymouth Argyle of the Championship.

After he recovered from a knee injury, Wright-Phillips made his debut for the club on 15 September 2009 against Watford.

The knee injury occurred once again, and he was sidelined for another long-term spell.

In January 2010, Wright-Phillips made his long-awaited return for Argyle in the FA Cup against Newcastle United.

He made his first start for the club against Coventry City in March 2010, and scored his first goal for Plymouth against Bristol City on 16 March 2010.

On 11 December 2010, Wright-Phillips scored both goals against Exeter City in the Devon derby in a 2–0 Plymouth win, the second marked his 12th of the season.

On 24 January 2011, it was announced that Wright-Phillips was moving to fellow League One club Charlton Athletic for an undisclosed fee.

He scored the only goal on his debut against Colchester United on 1 February 2011.

Wright-Phillips contributed 22 goals in 42 matches as Charlton Athletic won the 2011–12 Football League One title.

On 28 February 2012, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win at Chesterfield.

He was released by Charlton at the end of the 2012–13 season.

Wright-Phillips joined the New York Red Bulls halfway through the 2013 season, helping them to the Supporters' Shield, and in his first full season he equalled the league's record for most goals in a single campaign with 27.

He is a two-time MLS Golden Boot winner and currently holds the New York Red Bulls record for most goals scored.

On 19 February 2013, he joined Brentford on loan until the end of the season.

In his half season at the club he appeared in 15 league matches scoring five goals.

On 24 July 2013, Wright-Phillips joined the New York Red Bulls.

Despite joining the club in the latter part of the season Wright-Phillips was a contributor in helping New York capture its first major title, the MLS Supporters' Shield, playing seven regular season games and scoring once, the concluding goal in a 2–0 win against the Houston Dynamo at the BBVA Compass Stadium.

On 6 November, he netted against the same opposition in the Eastern Conference semifinal, but his team were eliminated from the playoffs after extra time.

On 23 April 2014, Wright-Phillips scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win against the Dynamo.

He secured his second hat-trick for New York on 10 May during a 5–4 home loss to the Chicago Fire.

Of note, he scored the winner in a friendly against his father's former team Arsenal, and the equaliser against Bayern Munich in the 2014 MLS All-Star Game.

Two days after the All-Star game, Red Bulls Sporting Director Andy Roxburgh claimed that Wright-Phillips' scoring exploits were producing international transfer interest in the player.

In 2018, he became the eleventh MLS player to score 100 goals.