When I was younger I was trying to do what I wanted to do, not what the game wanted me to do.
-Thierry Henry
King Henry the VIIth separated the Church and state, leaving an unforgettable mark on European History
Thierry Henry separated the defences of his opponents, leaving behind an unforgettable mark on European football.
Through his career, Theirry Henry acquired greatness goals and gold. With an admirable amount of trophies to his name, Henry’s hunger kept him going beyond most reasonable expectations. Plying his trade in five different countries, Henry amassed over 400 goals, 100 assists, and scores upon scores of admirers.
Perhaps the most enduring aspect of his career, is they way in which he graced every grain of grass he came upon. From Highbury to Hampden Park, Henry’s career has changed what the world expects of a world class striker.
Projected to be more of a winger as he progressed through Clairefontaine, the French Football Federation academy, that produced the likes of David Trezeguet and Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry’s greatness was discovered at a very early age. It was from here, that Henry met the spectre thin, spectacled frame of a figure we now know as Arsene Wenger. The friendship formed between the two, would go on to define Henry’s career in ways he had not begun to fathom.
After Wenger signed him on to Monaco, Henry, plying his trade on the left wing, lifted the Ligue Un title. Following a wasteful year at Juventus under Carlo Ancelotti, Henry was brought to Arsenal by Wenger, in a move that would serve epochal in the North London clubs’ history. Wenger believed that his rare blend of speed, technique, size and vision, made him the perfect forward for the modern game, even if he was one far removed from traditional British ideas about the No. 9.
Working diligently, Henry quickly matured into the most feared striker in England, ending up the top league scorer four times (hitting the magical 30-goal mark once).His trademark finish, sliding into the box from the left, opening his body and side-footing a right-footed shot inside the far post, became a weekly sight around the country.
Whatever Arsenal’s form dictated in the day, Goalkeepers around the league would come into the game, without the slightest clue as to what special trick Henry would deploy.
“What is remarkable is he doesn’t have the game of a goalscorer” lamented Arsene Wenger, “He has the game of a football player”
Henry became the apex of Wenger’s unique brand of total football. Building play from the wing, finding spaces in the blink of an eye, and finishing everywhere with the inside of his right foot, Thierry Henry was every inch, invincible. His 24 goals and 24 assists during the Invincibles run, just highlight his own personal importance in a magnificent side of team players.
However, after a heartbreaking Champions League final loss in 2006, Henry painfully realised that the club were not heading in the direction he had hoped. They had gone without silverware for three years, and were celebrating a fourth place finish, and not a first place victory. The time had inevitably come, and Henry left Arsenal.
What proceeded thence was a spell at Barcelona, where Henry fulfilled his ultimate dreams. Despite playing third fiddle to an attack trio of himself, Eto’o and Ronaldinho, Henry lifted the only silverware missing from his glittering CV- The UEFA Champions League.
In many ways Barcelona became a step down for Henry. He was no longer the big fish he was accustomed to being at Arsenal, yet he played a respectable part in a team that is regarded as one of the greatest sides in modern football. Seven titles in eight years was in many ways, a material representation of the stature he possessed; forever hungry, forever fantastic.
Henry’s contribution to the national team, still however remains a confounding black mark, on an otherwise spotless career. Dazzling the international scene, a young Henry was a key member of Les Blues consecutive World Cup (98) and European Championship (2000) sides, that solidified France as the world’s footballing superpower. His goals proved vital, and his presence potent. His proficiency for the French is exacerbated by the fact, that beyond after his retirement, France are nowhere closer to finding a number 9 of his quality .
A handball against the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup play-off, an incident that ultimately qualified his country for the 2010 tournament in South Africa but also sparked a rare spell of public criticism, also ensured the often-fickle French public remained cool towards him. For whatever reason, he was not beloved by the French public as much as players like Trezeguet and Petit, who weren’t even close in stature.
He had his fair share of detractors. Johann Crochet, chief editor Goal France once said,
“That handball against Ireland in 2009 meant a lot of French people were not proud of qualifying. Not only did he cheat, but he reacted poorly afterwards, chatting away with Richard Dunne. A second issue is his perceived arrogance – if French people call you arrogant then you must be doing something wrong, And the way he celebrated his goals – or rather the way he didn’t – made him look bored to fans”
However badly the media portrayed it, Henry always found his French teammates, fighting in his defence. Amongst them, Emmanuel Petit famously said
“In England, they’ve built a statue of Thierry.That means a lot. He is revered there. This bad image [according to L’Equipe] of Thierry Henry, it annoys me. I have great difficulty with the French. I have never seen such arrogant, smug, lying and hypocritical people.”
Whichever way it’s looked, Henry still remains his country’s all time leading goal scorer with 51 scalps. He’s won the French Player of the Year twice, and won everything that there is to win with Les Blues, he’s given nothing else than 100% for his national team, something that can be said for only a small hand full of his national team compatriots.
Henry’s legacy was re-established when he returned to Arsenal on loan in 2012, for The New York Red Bulls. The appreciation of his presence was not felt at the Emirates alone, stadia around England stood up in gratitude to witness, perhaps for the last time, the magic on the Frenchman. Upon taking the field as a substitute against Leeds, Henry’s arrival was meet with choric reverie. HIs goal, only minutes later however, was met with a cheer that would put the Sistine Chapel to shame. It was quintessential Henry. Moments like that are why his legacy will endure.
As French football evolves as rapidly as it has under Deschamps, Henry will still be looked upon by the current crop with much admiration. A pioneer, a perfectionist, a player, who was governed by little else, than his love for the game.
After all,It had to be, Thierry Henry.
Merci Titi
The Phantom Forward 