Thierry Henry emerges as top candidate for French Ligue 1 giants managerial job

Thierry Henry could be set to snub Aston Villa as former club Monaco prepare to sack Leonardo Jardim.

The former Arsenal forward was reportedly close to becoming the new manager of the Championship club after Steve Bruce was sacked after a 3-3 draw with Preston.

Henry has held talks with the Aston Villa board about the vacant managerial position.John Terry has also been tipped to assist Henry in the dugout after he called time on his playing career this week.

But now Henry could be set to return to former club Monaco as they prepare to sack manager Leonardo Jardim, according to French journalist Romain Molina.

The Ligue 1 club are in crisis, 18th in table and without a win in their last ten matches.

Sporting Director Michael Emenalo (formerly of Chelsea) is also in danger of being axed, as Vice President Vadim Vasilyev and owner Dmitry Rybolovlev have arranged a crisis meeting.

They are expected to relieve Jardim of his duties having lost faith in his ability to turn things around.

The Portuguese boss has done a fantastic job at the Stade Louis II despite their disastrous start to the season.

He led Monaco to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2017 and pipped PSG to the Ligue 1 title.

After that the club’s top stars were picked off by Europe’s elite. Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy joined Manchester City, Tiemoue Bakayoko signed for Chelsea and Kylian Mbappe was loaned to PSG.

There was a similar story this summer, Mbappe joined PSG permanently for £118m, Fabinho was snapped up by Liverpool and Thomas Lemar made the switch to Atletico Madrid.

The crux of the title winning squad was sold and failed to be replaced as the board made the decision to change their model and sign young talent and develop them for the future.