Has Eni Aluko Gone Too Far This Time?

Has Eni Aluko Gone Too Far This Time?

It's safe to say Eni Aluko isn't exactly the most diplomatic of figures in the football media space.

In fact, over the past year or so, she has spent more time making enemies than she has outputting insightful analysis on punditry panels.

One of the most prominent examples of exactly that is her ongoing gripe with Ian Wright and his, as she calls it, prominence within the women's game, which she believes is taking away opportunities for her and other women looking to be pundits.

And yet again, despite it appearing like the problems between the two were dead and buried, Aluko took to a podcast last week and spun it back – once again giving her unfiltered opinions about male representation in the women's game.

What Did Aluko Say?

Aluko's main point was in telling the story of the 2025 Women's Euros:

“The two broadcasters that had the rights for the game – ITV and BBC – on BBC you’ve got Ellen White, Steph Houghton and Nedum Onuoha. No offence to Nedum Onuoha, nothing against him, I don’t know whether he played for England or not, but you’re on the main panel for the final for England Women.

“Let’s go over to ITV. I’m in the stands with 105 caps, so you’ve got two women; between us we’ve got 290 caps, something ridiculous. You turn over to ITV, and it’s Ian Wright, Emma Hayes and Kaz Karen Carney.

“So out of six punditry spots, two have gone to men. Meanwhile, you’ve got 290 caps, whatever they are, sitting in the stands.

“It’s nothing against Ian; it’s nothing against them. I’m just saying broadly speaking we need to be aware of that because if we’re building a game where the limited opportunities are now being taken by men, where we can’t go into the men’s game and get the same opportunities, we’re stuck.”

These comments were yet another outward condemnation of the presence of male pundits infiltrating the women's game but came across as more of a jealous spiel than an attempt to protect the opportunities for women.

A sentiment which was further perpetuated in a second episode of the same podcast she appeared on, merely a few days later:

“ITV, at the end of the men’s Euros, came to me and said we can’t extend your contract,” Aluko said. “I met with Ian’s agent; I had a face-to-face coffee with him. I met with him and said, ‘Listen, this is the situation; I can’t believe this is happening.’ I said, ‘They’ve told me that Ian is the priority; they’ve told me that his contract is the priority for them, and they’ve also said to me when Ian is not available, you might get a call-up.’

“So I said, ‘How can we work together so I can stay in the game? How can we work together when Ian is not available? You give me a call, or what can we do?

“This is what I think Black people should do; at the highest levels, we need to strategise, we need to really help each other. We can get sidelined very quickly. I went to him and I was vulnerable; I said, ‘Listen, I need your help; I need Ian’s influence.’

Eni Aluko is a strange one.

Happy to be a pundit for the men’s game, but doesn’t want any men working on the women’s game.

You can’t have it both ways Eni, you’re embarrassing yourself and actually making it harder for women to have the credibility they deserve.

— LolaElise (@LoEl81) April 23, 2025

“I had that meeting with his agent; a month went by, and I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ So I messaged him and said, ‘Did you manage to have a chat with ITV?’ He was very dismissive, didn’t really want to help me, and was a bit like: ‘Listen, it’s not going to work.’ I fully expected Ian to use his influence to keep me in the game. I’ve seen him do it with others; he did it with Gary Lineker at the BBC.

“There's nothing that would make me think he wouldn't do that for me, because you're the ally; you're 'Uncle'. So the question to you is, why didn’t he do that for me? I say all this to say, you don’t want to help me, you don’t want to use your influence, you don’t want to be an ally for me in the most difficult time in my career, and that’s fine; that’s cool."

It was a strange attack on Ian Wright's character once again, with a story that, in the view of most, would be more concerning from the point of view of Wright's agent than Wright himself and felt like a forced attack with an intent to make Wright look like the bad guy when he didn't actually do anything wrong in the grand scheme of things.

Laura Woods Says What We Are All Thinking

Despite saying all of that, there was one specific comment more damaging than the rest, which was even condemned by fellow female broadcasters such as Laura Woods, who spoke passionately on X about what Aluko said.

Laura Woods nails it

Hope Eni Aluko reads it and takes note but I doubt it pic.twitter.com/2vXZbVHrus

— Chris Nicholls (@cnicholls7) February 9, 2026

"The women's game should be by women, for women."

It was a comment which peddled the idea that men should be kept entirely separate from the women's game, and all of the opportunities within that realm should be given to female broadcasters – despite her previous complaints that women aren't given enough opportunity in the men's game.

Essentially, as Laura Woods put it, the comment suggests that the women's game should be "gatekept" when, in fact, all that will do is set back the progress already made.

If the male pundits and commentators who are being given the opportunities are the best fit for the role, then it would be stupid of the broadcast companies to not pick them – meaning it is actually on female pundits like Eni Aluko to be good enough at their job that they get chosen for gigs over their male counterparts.

And that becomes even more apparent when you take a look at some of the female punditry talent who are on our TV screens regularly, those like Izzy Christiansen who continuously produce insightful and highly analytical content for shows like Super Sunday on Sky Sports.

Instead of playing the victim card when things don't go her way, if Eni Aluko had honed her own punditry and broadcast skills, rather than trying to essentially guilt-trip those who make the decisions, she would likely have received a multitude more opportunities than she has done… And that is a fact.