How Thierry Henry ended up signing for Arsenal

Back in 1998, Thierry Henry found himself at a crossroads in his career – playing as a winger and makeshift wing-back for Juventus.

But a chance meeting with Arsene Wenger changed the course of history and led to him signing for us and becoming out all-time leading goalscorer.

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“A few years after Arsène left Monaco, he came to watch a game between Juventus and Udinese that I played in,” Henry told Arsenal Player.

“After the match, I was going back to Paris and he was on the same plane. He told me he’d been at the game. We exchanged numbers and he told me that he didn’t understand why I was playing on the wing. At the time, I was actually playing as a wing-back!

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“He told me I was wasting my time and that he remembered me as a No 9. He said it would be great if we could meet him again, and the rest is history.

“I knew I was going to meet Arsène again, so he had a lot of influence in me coming to Arsenal. If he wasn’t there, I don’t know if Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit or Nicolas Anelka would have joined the club.

“Arsène being there, plus having the French boys there and them telling us how amazing the English league was when we met with the national team was a factor too.”

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He is the second assistant coach of the Belgium national team. During his playing career, Henry played for Monaco, Juventus, Barcelona, New York Red Bulls and Arsenal, where he is the club’s record goalscorer. At international level, he represented France and is his country’s record goalscorer.

Henry made his professional debut with Monaco in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which he signed for defending Serie A champions Juventus. Limited playing time at Juve where he was played out of position on the wing allowed him to sign for Premier League club Arsenal for £11 million a year later. It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class player, and he became one of the best players of his generation. Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal’s all-time leading scorer with 228 goals in all competitions.

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He won two FA Cups and two league titles at the club, including one unbeaten. In 2003 and 2004, Henry was the runner-up for the FIFA World Player of the Year. He was named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year twice, and the FWA Footballer of the Year three times, and has been named in the UEFA Team of the Year five times. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final.

In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to Barcelona for a fee of €24 million. In 2009, he was an integral part of the club’s historic treble when they won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. He went on to achieve an unprecedented sextuple by also winning the Supercopa de España, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. In 2010, he joined New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer (MLS), where he won the MLS Supporters’ Shield in 2013. He also returned to Arsenal on loan for two months in 2012, before retiring in 2014.

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Henry enjoyed sustained success with France, winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000 and 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini’s record to become France’s top goalscorer. After amassing 123 appearances and 51 goals, Henry retired from international football after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Henry was also one of the top commercially marketed footballers; he was ranked ninth in the world in 2006.

After retiring, Henry transitioned into coaching, and was appointed as the second assistant coach of Belgium’s national team in 2016, alongside head coach Roberto Martínez and fellow assistant Graeme Jones.

 

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