Thierry Henry
- Dag Jenkins
- Oct 16
- 3 min read
Thierry Henry is considered one of the best forwards in football history.
He was born in Les Ulis (Paris), on August 17, 1977. His father was originally from Guadalupe and his mother from Martinique.
As a boy he played in various local clubs; CO Les Ulis, US Palaiseau and Viry -Châtillon.
In 1990 a scout from Monaco spotted him and promised to sign him provided he did a couple of years at the INF Clairefontaine academy. In 1993 he then joined the Monaco youth setup. Arsène Wenger was the first team coach at the time.
In 1994 he joined the first team squad. Henry stayed four full seasons, playing 141 games with 28 goals. He won the league title and the French Super Cup in 1997, under manager Jean Tigana.
In January 1999 he moved to Juventus. He played 19 games with 3 goals (Lazio x2, Venezia) and the Bianconeri finished 7th. His managers were first Marcello Lippi and then Carlo Ancelotti. It was a difficult season and he was not a great success so he changed clubs again but this time he made the right choice.
In the summer of 1999 he signed for Arsenal where Wenger was manager. Henry stayed eight positive years and won the league title twice (2002, 2004), the FA Cup three times (2002, 2003, 2005) and the Community Shield twice (2002, 2004). He played a total of 370 games with 226 goals. He was Premier League top scorer four times. He is a legend at Arsenal.
In 2007 he joined Barcelona and stayed three years. In the first the manager was Frank Rijkaard and the Blaugrana finished 3rd and reached the Champions League semi-final. In his second under Pep Guardiola they won the Liga, Champions League (Man Utd 2-0) and the Copa del Rey. In his third season the Catalans won the Liga again, under Guardiola and also won the Spanish Super Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup. In his time in Barcelona he played 121 games with 49 goals. He played alongside future Lazio Pedro and a myriad of stars including Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Ronaldinho, Carles Puyol, Samuel Eto'o, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Lilian Thuram, and Zlatan Ibrahimović just to name a few.
In July 2010 he went to the USA and joined the New York Red Bulls. He played 135 games with 52 goals. In 2013 he and NYRB won the MLS Supporters Shield (most points in regular season).
In January 2011 he had briefly returned to Arsenal for two months but just to keep fit for the upcoming season in the States. He played another 7 games with 2 goals (including the winner in 2-1 victory at Sunderland in his last ever game in an Arsenal shirt).
After his American experience Henry then retired at 37.
He won 123 caps for France with 51 goals. With Les Bleus he won the World Cup (1998), a European Championship (2000) and a Confederations Cup (2003). He also played in another World Cup final in 2006 but France lost to Italy on penalties. He is France's second top scorer in their history.
He also won the Golden Boot in 2004 and 2005. He came 2nd in the 2003 Ballon d'Or and 3rd in 2006.
After retiring he went into coaching. In 2015-16 he was with the Arsenal academy. Between 2016 and 2018 he was assistant coach to Roberto Martinez with the Belgium national team. In 2018-19 he had a four-month spell at Monaco. He then spent two years with Montréal Impact, a year back as Belgium assistant coach, a year with France U21s and in 2024 won silver in the home Olympics with France. He resigned in August 2024.
Henry has also been busy with punditry, working with Paramount +, Prime Video and CBS.
In August 2022 he bought a 1% stake in ambitious and up and coming Italian club, Como.
Henry was a forward who could play both on the wing or as the main striker. He was strong (1.88 and 83kg), extremely fast and skilful. This combination made him very difficult to stop. He had great dribbling technique, a precise and powerful shot and was a master at eluding the offside trap. At Arsenal he was also in charge of free kicks and penalties. His only possible weakness was in the air.
A superb player (just don't mention him in Ireland...).
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