Eni Aluko explains reason ITV ‘snubbed her for Ian Wright’ after holding talks | Football | Sport

Eni Aluko has suggested that budget cuts were behind ITV’s decision to overlook her in favour of Ian Wright for their coverage of last summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro final. Last April, the former England international faced backlash after suggesting Wright was preventing opportunities for female pundits through his involvement in women’s football.

She subsequently apologised, though the ex-Arsenal striker declined to accept it, saying he was “disappointed” by her remarks. More recently, Aluko revisited the subject on a podcast, expressing frustration that both she and Fara Williams were not selected to work on for England’s Euro 2025 victory against Spain last summer. Wright and former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha were selected by ITV and the BBC, respectively.

Speaking on talkSPORT with Jim White and Simon Jordan on Tuesday morning, Aluko has now outlined why ITV chose Wright over her for the Euro 2025 final between England and Spain. When questioned about her absence from ITV’s coverage, Aluko responded: “I think that’s just their choice, right. They wanted to go with other pundits for the final.”

White then interjected, asking: “But you would have wished to have been involved Eni, you wanted that gig?” Aluko responded: “Yeah of course, but by the time I worked on the Women’s Euros last year we’d already had a conversation that I wouldn’t be working with ITV as much, so there was already a conversation about my role changing slightly. I was disappointed but the reason was never ‘you’re not good enough to do a final’.

“The reason that was given to me was that ‘we’re cutting budgets and we’re reducing from three pundits to two, and you’re contract isn’t the priority, Ian Wright’s is.’ That was the reason given to me.

“So to clarify for everybody that just wants to make a conclusion that I’m just no good enough, it’s just not the case. In the 11 years I’ve been working as professional pundit, I’ve never ever had a top producer, a director of TV, anyone, say ‘you’re not good enough, you’re struggling, you can’t put your sentences together’.

“Quite the opposite! I’m the geek that goes to the producer and stats guy and goes ‘how can I improve’. I’ve got texts and emails of support saying ‘you’re brilliant today’.”

Aluko’s broadcasting career began when she became the first woman to feature on BBC’s Match of the Day in September 2014. The 38-year-old, who netted 33 goals in 105 caps for England, maintained her punditry work during the latter stages of her playing days and delivered analysis for ITV’s broadcast of the 2018 men’s FIFA World Cup and for Fox Sports’ transmission of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

After hanging up her boots in January 2020, Aluko has taken on a variety of roles, including serving as the director of football at Aston Villa Women and sporting director at Angel City FC in the United States. Alongside this, Aluko continued to work as a pundit for ITV and several other broadcasters.

However, Aluko was notably absent from ITV’s coverage of England’s legendary Euro 2025 victory over Spain last July, with Emma Hayes, Karen Carney and Wright chosen ahead of her.

Weighing in on the matter, former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan remarked: “I think you’ve been quite fortuitous, I think because of initiatives like DEI, they’ve allowed people to be put into positions in the men’s game that I don’t think they’ve merited, and now that sort of seeds an attitude that you become a stalwart in the women’s game.

“And I listened to your observations about Ian Wright, and I’ve known Ian for 25 years – Ian is not in any shape or form obligated to provide any support structure for you or give you a sense of entitlement. And your position now as a broadcaster will be determined by the value of you, and the fact people potentially aren’t booking you now should give you pause for thought about why they might not be.”

Aluko then hit back and shared the discussion she had with ITV before being left out of the final’s coverage. “Hold on, the reason people aren’t booking me is because I’ve taken myself out of the firing line,” the former Chelsea and Juventus striker said.

“My last conversation with ITV was ‘I’m taking a break from broadcasting’. There was two conversations with ITV, there was the conversation after the men’s Euros which was the end of my contract.

“I asked about ‘are we going to renew?’ And they said ‘no, we’re sort of cutting budgets, and we’re prioritising Ian Wright and Karen Carney.’ That was a conversation back in the summer of 2024.

“I was off screen for nine months. We agreed that I would then do the (women’s) Euros. That was after the comments about Ian Wright, we had a conversation, and at that point I’d already decided ‘I’m taking a break from this environment, this is no longer something that I think is servable.'”