Thiery Henry Come Back!

Thierry Daniel Henry ( IPA: [tjɛ'ʀi ɑ̃'ʀi] , born 17 August 1977) is a French former footballer who played in the forward position . Henry was born and raised in Paris and from a young age showed great potential. He was discovered by AS Monaco in 1990, then immediately joined, and made his professional debut in 1994. In 1998 Henry was called up to join the French national team, then he moved to Italian club Juventus . In 1999 Henry joined British club Arsenal for £ 10.5 million . Henry at Arsenal became famous as a world class player. Even though he initially experienced difficulties in the Premier League , Henry was still able to emerge as the top scorer almost every season. Under his mentor and coach, Arsène Wenger , Henry became a very famous striker and top scorer at Arsenal, with 226 goals. With the Gunners , Henry won the Premier League twice and three FA Cups , was twice nominated for FIFA World Player of the Year , twice was PFA Players' Player of the Year and three times was Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year . Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as captain, and successfully led his club to the UEFA Champions League final . In June 2007, after eight years at Arsenal, Henry moved to FC Barcelona for a transfer fee of £16.1 million. Henry also had similar success with the French national team, winning the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 . In October 2007, Henry surpassed Michel Platini's record by becoming France's top goalscorer. Off the field, based on his personal experience, Henry is active as a spokesperson for anti- racism in football. His success made Henry one of the best-selling football players; Henry frequently appears in commercials for Nike , Reebok , Renault , and Gillette . Henry took the decision to retire from football in December 2014 at the New York Red Bulls club . [2] Youth Henry was of Antillean descent ; [3] his father, Antoine, was from Guadeloupe (the island of La Désirade ), and his mother, Maryse, was from Martinique . Henry was born and grew up in a tough environment, in the Les Ulis district of Paris , which apparently had good football facilities. [4] Since the age of six years Henry has shown excellent potential, making him become a member of the local club CO Les Ulis by Claude Chezelle. His father was the one who encouraged Henry to take part in training, even though little Henry was not really interested in football. [1] Five years later, Henry played in his first match for the club. Henry then joined US Palaiseau in 1989, but after one year, his father had a dispute with this club, making him move to the Viry-Châtillon club. [3] His coach at US Palaiseau, Jean-Marie Panza, followed Henry to his new club, and later became his mentor. [4] Club career AS Monaco (1992–1998) and Juventus (1999) In 1990, AS Monaco sent scout Arnold Catalano to watch Henry play. Henry scored six goals and his team won 6–0. Catalano immediately invited Henry to join Monaco without going through a testing period. Catalano arranged for Henry to follow a course at the elite Clairefontaine academy , and although the academy leadership was reluctant to accept Henry because of his poor school performance, Henry was allowed to complete the course, and then joined Arsène Wenger's AS Monaco as a young player. [1] Finally, Henry signed a professional contract with AS Monaco and made his debut in 1994. Wenger put Henry on the left wing because he believed that Henry's speed, ball control and skill would be more effective against a wing defender rather than a central defender. In his first season with Monaco, Henry scored three goals in 18 appearances. [3] Wenger continues his search for the best position for Henry, and considering that Henry should play as a striker but Wenger is still in doubt. [3] Under his manager's guidance, Henry managed to earn the 1996 Young French Player of the Year award, and in the 1996–97 season, his consistent performance helped the club win Ligue 1 . [1] [5] In the 1997–98 season, Henry played a major role in bringing his club to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League , and also set a new record for a French player by scoring seven goals in the championship. [3] [6] In the third season, Henry first played for the French national team , and was part of the team that won the 1998 World Cup . [3] Henry continued to play well at Monaco and in his five seasons with the French club, Henry scored 20 league goals in 105 appearances. [5] Henry left Monaco in January 1999, one year before his friend and teammate, David Trezeguet , and moved to Italian Serie A club Juventus for £10.5 million. [1] Henry played as a wide midfielder, [7] but he was ineffective against Serie A's disciplined defense in this position, and he only scored three goals in 16 appearances. [8] Arsenal (1999–2007) Henry became captain following Patrick Vieira's move to Juventus in 2005. In August 1999, Henry moved from Juventus to Arsenal , for a transfer fee of £10.5 million, and rejoined his former manager, Arsène Wenger . [9] At Arsenal Henry would later develop into one of the world's best football players, [10] and although this transfer was not far from controversy, Wenger believed that Henry was worth buying for the price paid. [3] Henry signed to replace fellow French striker, Nicolas Anelka , and Henry immediately became the attackers were trained by Wenger, a move that will bring many blessings. However, Henry had doubts about his ability in England's fast and rough football, when he failed to score in his first eight games. [4] After several difficult months in England, Henry even acknowledged that he should "be taught again about the art of being the attacker". [4] These doubts ended with Henry's success in scoring 26 goals in the 1999–2000 English league season. [11] Arsenal ended the season in second place, behind Manchester United , and lost against Turkish club Galatasaray in the 2000 UEFA Cup final .[3] After successfully winning Euro 2000 with France, Henry entered the 2000–01 English league season more firmly. Despite scoring fewer goals and assists than his previous season, Henry's second season at Arsenal was a very good one, as he became the club's top goalscorer. [9] With one of the best offensive units in the English league, Arsenal could compete with Manchester United for the top tier of the league. However, Henry remained frustrated because he still had not succeeded in bringing Arsenal to become league champions, and repeatedly stated his desire to make Arsenal a great club. [3] Success finally came in the 2001–02 season. Arsenal won the English league by seven points ahead of runners-up Liverpool , and also won the FA Cup by beating Chelsea 2–0. [3] Henry became top scorer with 32 goals, and led Arsenal to their first double and first trophy for the club. [1] [9] Many hoped that Henry would repeat this success with France at the 2002 World Cup , but surprisingly France did not qualify for the group stage. [3] 2002-03 season once again became a productive season for Henry, scoring 42 and giving 23 assists, including exceptional for an attacker. [9] In this way, Henry again led Arsenal to win the FA Cup. [12] In this season, Henry competed with Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy in the number of goals, and in the end Henry was defeated by a margin of one goal. [3] Even so, Henry still managed to win the PFA Players' Player of the Year and Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards . [13] [14] Henry also finally gained recognition that he was one of the world's best players, by winning the FIFA Player of the Year award in 2003. [10] Barcelona (2007-2010) Henry in Barcelona uniform On 25 June 2007, in an unexpected turn of events, Henry was transferred to Barcelona for €24 million. He signed a four-year contract and a reported salary of €6.8 (£4.6) million per season. [15] It was revealed that the contract included a release clause of €125 (£84.9) million. [16] Henry's departure was cited by Dein as the continued uncertainty over Wenger's future at Arsenal as the reason for leaving the club, [17] [18] and maintained his statement that "I always said that if I left Arsenal, I would play for Barcelona." [19] Despite their captain's departure, Arsenal got off to an impressive start for the 2007–08 campaign, and Henry admitted that his presence in the team might have been more of a hindrance than a help. He stated: "Because of my seniority, the fact that I was captain and my habit of shouting for the ball, they would sometimes give it to me even when I wasn't in the best position. So in that sense everything (the move) was good for the team that I leave" [20] Henry left Arsenal as the club's all-time top scorer with 174 goals and leading as top scorer in European competitions with 42 goals. [1] In July 2008, Arsenal fans voted him Arsenal's greatest ever player on Arsenal.com's Gunners' Greatest 50 Players poll. [21] At Barcelona, ​​Henry was given the number 14 jersey, the same as the one worn at Arsenal. He scored his first goal for his new club on 19 September 2007 in a 3–0 Champions League group stage win over Olympique Lyonnais, [22] and he recorded a hat-trick for Barca in a Primera Division match against Levante ten days later. [23] Henry was at the peak of his Barcelona career during the 2008–09 season, winning his first trophy since his Barcelona career on 13 May 2009 when Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final . Barcelona won the Primera Division and Champions League soon after, completing a treble for the Frenchman, who combined with Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o to score 100 goals overall that season. This trio also became the most productive trio in the history of the Spanish league, scoring 72 goals and surpassing the 66 goals of the former Real Madrid trio of Ferenc Puskás , Alfredo Di Stefano and Luis del Sol in the 1960–1961 season (this was later also surpassed by the Real Madrid trio of Cristiano Ronaldo , Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain who scored 89 goals in the 2011-12 season). [24] Later in 2009, Henry helped Barcelona win an unprecedented five titles, consisting of the aforementioned treble plus the Supercopa de España , UEFA Super Cup , and FIFA Club World Cup . [25] The following season, the emergence of Pedro Rodríguez meant that Henry only played 15 league games. [9] Before the end of the La Liga season, and with one year still remaining on his contract, club president Joan Laporta stated on 5 May 2010 that Henry "might leave in the summer transfer window if that's what he wants". [26] After Henry returned from the 2010 FIFA World Cup , Barcelona confirmed that they had agreed Henry's sale to an unnamed club, with the player also agreeing to his new club. [27] New York Red Bulls (2010–2014) In July 2010, Henry signed a multi-year contract with Major League Soccer (MLS) club New York Red Bulls for the 2010 season as the club's second signing. [28] He made his full MLS debut on July 31 in a 2–2 draw against Houston Dynamo, assisting two goals for Juan Pablo Ángel . His first MLS goal came on August 28 in a 2–0 win against the San Jose Earthquakes . International career Henry enjoyed a successful career with the French national team, winning the first of his 123 caps in June 1997, since his performances for Monaco were rewarded with a call-up to the French Under-20 national team, where he played in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship alongside his future teammates. front William Gallas and David Trezeguet . [1] Within four months, French head coach Aimé Jacquet called Henry up to the senior team. Aged 20 he made his senior international debut on 11 October 1997 in a 2-1 win against South Africa . [29] Jacquet was so impressed with Henry's play that he took him to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Although Henry was a largely unknown quantity at international level, he ended the tournament as France's top scorer with three goals. [30] He was set to appear as a substitute in the final, where France beat Brazil 3–0, but Marcel Desailly's sending off forced a defensive change instead. In 1998, he was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur, France's highest decoration. [31] Henry was not in the starting line-up for France at the 2010 FIFA World Cup . France drew their first match against Uruguay, and lost 2–0 in their second match against Mexico. The team was thrown into disarray when Nicolas Anelka was expelled from the team, and captain Patrice Evra led a team protest by refusing to train. [32] In the final group match against hosts South Africa in which Henry came on as a second-half substitute, France lost 2–1 and were eliminated from the tournament. He then announced his retirement from international football, having won 123 caps and scored 51 goals for Les Bleus, thus finishing his international career as France's all-time top scorer, and second most capped player after Lilian Thuram . [33] Playing style Henry was the first choice free kick taker for Arsenal Although Henry played up front as a striker during his youth, [4] he spent his time at Monaco and Juventus playing on the wing. When Henry joined Arsenal in 1999, Wenger immediately changed this, switching Henry to his childhood position, often pairing him with Dutch veteran Dennis Bergkamp . [7] During the 2004–05 season, Wenger switched Arsenal's formation to a 4-5-1. [34] This change forced Henry to adapt again to fit into the Arsenal team, and he played many games as a lone striker. [7] However, Henry remained Arsenal's main attacking threat, on many occasions scoring spectacular goals. Wenger said of his fellow Frenchman: "Thierry Henry could take the ball in the middle of the park and score a goal that no one else in the world could score". [35] One of the reasons cited for Henry's impressive play up front is his ability to calmly score from one-on-ones. [36] This, combined with his exceptional pace, means he can get in behind defenders to score. [4] [37] When up front, Henry was sometimes known to move wide to a left-wing position, [38] [39] something that allowed him to make a major contribution in assisting the assist: between the 2002–03 and 2004–05 seasons , Henry created almost 50 assists in total and this was due to his selfish and creative play. [40] Henry would also drift offside to fool the defense then run back onside before the ball is played and beat the offside trap, although he never provided Arsenal a threat in aerial duels. [41] Given his versatility in being able to operate as both a winger and a striker, the Frenchman is not a prototypical "out-and-out" striker, but he has emerged consistently as one of Europe's most prolific strikers. [3] In set pieces, Henry was Arsenal's first-choice penalty taker and free kick taker, having scored regularly from those