Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright has encouraged the Arsenal board and Arsene Wenger to pursue the signing of Didier Drogba.

Drogba has been linked with several clubs, with the turmoil surrounding his Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua. While Drogba's representatives have said their client wants to stay in China, where he earns a reported $322,000 a week. Arsenal were the latest to be linked with a move for the former Chelsea striker, with Real Madrid and Liverpool also reportedly interested.

Drogba will have to come to an agreement with Shenhua to rescind his contract, for the Ivorian to be eligible to sign for another club. Otherwise, all interested parties will have to wait for the January transfer window to open.

Wright believes Drogba can be the perfect man at Arsenal. "I'd love to see Didier Drogba at Arsenal, I'd like to see him come back to England," the former Arsenal striker told Absolute Radio. "And not play against Arsenal because he's always demolishing them and the back four."

Wright claimed Wenger was always going to play down the reports, with Arsenal generally pretty secretive about their transfer. The Arsenal manager said he was not interested in bringing in the striker to North London, when asked during his pre-match press conference Thursday.

"Of course you've got to play that kind of thing down," Wright said. "I think if Drogba's coming back to the Premier League I'm sure there'll be a queue and I think if Arsenal are in and around it, I don't think that's a bad thing. That's not a bad signing.

"Hopefully Arsene can make that happen, if it can happen, because I think he will be a definite positive move in respect of Arsenal and I think he's still got something to offer in the Premier League. So fingers crossed that something can come of that."