Arsene Wenger believes Thierry Henry will certainly return to Arsenal in the future, but doesn’t think the 37-year-old has any interest in playing again in the Premier League.
In a statement posted on Facebook yesterday, the former French international drew a line under his four-and-a-half years at New York Red Bulls and said he was in the process of deciding the future direction of his career.
Henry has been linked with a coaching position at the Emirates – a role Wenger said he’d be open to offering his former charge – while punditry and other commercial opportunities are known to be on offer.
Paying homage to Henry’s 20-year playing career, Wenger told his pre-Southampton press conference: “He has the right to reflect and think of what he wants to do now.
“He is an Arsenal man. It was the best moment certainly of his life and of his career has been experienced here.
“Certainly one day he will come back here. In what role I don’t know. That is what he has to think about: what direction he wants to give to his next life.
“I don’t think he wants to do that again,” continued Wenger when asked if he might try and sign the player on a short-term loan deal as he did in 2011/12.
“He has given a lot, he has come out with an image that is fantastic. I’m not sure that he wants to play again in the Premier League. I don’t think he wants to carry on. What I understand is that he wants to reflect for a while on how he wants to go into his next life.
“The only thing I would like to say is that I made him start at the age of 17 in Monaco, he is today 37 so he had 20 years of competitive football and that deserves high respect and congratulations, not only on what he achieved but also on his exemplary attitude and his focus on football.”
Last week Henry was quoted as saying he wanted to help Arsenal win the Champions League for the first time in their history and yesterday teasingly changed the header image of both his Facebook and Twitter pages to a shot of his statue outside the Emirates.
“He is an Arsenal man”. Warmed my cockles, that did.
True legend, he is! One and only Thierry! True Arsenal Man, always! Some others should take him as example to follow!
True legend. What topped his class for me was when he said moving to Barca was meant to help unshackle some the youngsters at the time (names withheld on purpose) who then went on realise their potential with more responsibility and chance to play; class even when away from the Grove. Congratulations on a glorious career
you dont ever need to name him,
the dutch skunk’s stink will rise out..
Not sure these then youngsters realised their potential the way the king did. The current No. 14 could have if it wasn’t for injuries.
Will pull out old shirts with his name in the back , give them life for two weeks to celebrate his retirement. It hurts he did not get the ballon d’or after the invincible campain.
Or the CL final season. He deserved it more than Ronaldinho then
King Henry returning to Arsenal will be like a trophy. And I’m not even joking.
I would also like to see Bergkamp return one day as a coach, who better to learn from, for the youngsters!
Henry’s return goal against Leeds is one of my favourite Arsenal moments of the past 10 years (even more so than the fa cup win). I know the club is always bigger than any player but there are a few along the way that make the Arsenal that little bit more special, no one more so that Thierry.
I find this comment astounding. Dont gez me wrong i love thierry but a better memory than coming from 2 down to win the cup in extra time after 9 years without a trophy is for me far ahead.
Are you nine years old, my friend ?
Completely rational arguement and I’m not saying I didn’t love winning the FA Cup but I’m a sentimental old fool and there was something about that moment. It was a true typical Henry goal followed by a celebration with more passion then I have ever seen before, it was like if one of us scored a goal, obviously just a lot cooler! I’m not afraid to say it made a grown man cry!
I was there for that. Effing huge moment
Can the Henry-Bergkamp legendary partnership be risen again?
The Premier League’s best ever player and our record scorer back at the club together. Happy days
This has by far been my favourite piece read on the toilet in some time, the return of Titi, we can only hope!
Me thinks Arsene knows more than he is letting on. If Drogba can do it at 36 then Thierry can sure as feck do it at 37.
To be fair Drogba was one of those late bloomers, a bit like Giroud or Koscielny.
Ofcourse he knows more than he tells the media, he is an intelligent man, however I doubt he will return as a player. I think it would be perfect for Thierry to help coaching our first team, helping the likes of Danny Welbeck, Joel Campbell, Yaya Sanogo and Chuba Akpom to develope.
Henry could punch me in the kidney, then shag my mum, and I would still love him more than bacon and beer
Mhm yes, Thierry Henry is not even compareable with Didier Drogba in terms of ability. But he is a pure phenomenon, I think he wants the arsenal fans to have the old image of him. But his move to arsenal as a coach would be absolutely amazing.
The Return of the King. A man of class and honor.
Who would bat an eyelid if skunky and the chinless wonder want to retire? No one.
From recent reports the Dutch Skunk has virtually retired
He is most wellcome.Infact he is a true legend to help arsenal achieve its ambitions as wenger seems to be loosing his path.what a boost!
It would be great to see him back in some capacity, but not as a player. That part of his career is over now.
Could he manage? Who knows?
He’d need his coaching badges first, wouldn’t he.
I’d even be happy if he came back to do the stadium tours!
What about he gets the job title of “personal finishing coach to Danny Welbeck”
Some kind of role will be found for him. maybe trying to break Diabys poker domination. He must be brilliant by now.
He’s also the reigning champion of ‘Operation’…
Who cares? Can he do a job for us on the pitch? No. And he doesn’t strike me as a guy who’ll make a great manager: he’s too laid back.
So how is he going to contribute?
This is a beautiful piece of propaganda by the club: it means nothing.
I really appreciate your practical and realistic views most of the time FG, but maybe we should just kick back a little here and appreciate what King Henry did for the club with some tinge of nostalgia? 😉 Of course he can’t really contribute much now, but we really don’t know if he’ll be a great manager in the future. I for one, hope that he does, especially having learnt from managers who had arguably the most exciting teams in the last decade (Arsenal in early 2000s, Barca in the late 2000s). I also hope that his desire to help… Read more »
I love your optimism. makes your fat rolls glow.
Positive as always FG.
You really must be fun to be around.
What we need right now is:
1. Two quality defenders who can play at both centre-back and full-back.
2. A pacy, powerful, top-quality defensive midfielder who can protect the back four.
3. A world-class goalkeeper – which Szcznsey isn’t.
4. a top-quality left-sided winger with pace and and finishing ability.
5. A new manager, one who is willing to buy the above players, and has the tactical nous to out-fox the likes of Maureen.
The last time I checked Henry wasn’t any of the above.
I would, genuinely, like to know which players you would like to fill that very large list for Santa you have.
Not many WC defenders that will be able to play both positions and you want two?!
Mascherano, Mats Hummels would be perfect. Two defenders is not needed. Besides I dislike the term world class: what we need is players that offers us something that we do not already have.
As for Wojciech not being world class: He is a very talented goalkeeper in fact. He cannot be compared with Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois however, who in my honest opinion are the two best goalkeepers in the league. But Wojciech is still a very good goalkeeper.
I like the wish list. An easier way out will be to support Real Madrid… All the wish fulfilled in one go.
I agree…but you underestimate the impact the presence of henry would have in the dressing room.
As for your list; we desperately need 1 and 2…scz is still young; could develop to be world class.
Jeez……
Helping our strikers out? Henry is one of the best strikers of the history of football. We have similar players to him at the club such as Welbeck. He could help taking him to the next level.
I don’t think the idea is to bring him in as a manager though, just as a coach.
As an ambassador he would be perfect. He’d also make a good coach for the strikers, especially with the pacey forwards we have at the moment. He mastered doing everything at speed and his insight could be valuable to players like Welbeck and Walcott. I’d have him back in a heartbeat in whatever way possible. It just couldn’t be a bad thing. Whether he’d be a good manager or not is hard to say, but he was never laid back on the pitch for us. He was intelligent and he was ruthless in his execution. Off the pitch he is… Read more »
Yeah definitely. It’s not like Arsene is high tempo!
He’s about as chilled out as it gets.
I hear he can make a fantastic cuppa!
Is it just me or have you put on weight ?
Have to disagree with you on this one FG.
Henry could teach our strikers a thing or 2 about finishing.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/dec/02/thierry-henry-arsenal-arsene-wenger-barcelona-career
Read the link and you’ll see he has the right mindset…and understands the game well.
Oh and it’s laughable that you think he’s laid back. Henry is anything but laidback(well except maybe when he’s one on oe with the keeper).
He’d be a VERY VERY demanding coach.
This is what Arsenal have been lacking for a long long time. Footballing people in senior roles, ambassadors, coaches, execs and other such roles would be perfect to have people like Henry, Bergkamp, and Viera in. I’d love to have the Invincibles back at Arsenal in an off-pitch capacity. It’s mouthwatering to think about all the desire, passion and influence they would bring!
Fatgooner you are a Spuds’ wet shit if you believe that. Arsenal needs to stop letting great football minds like Henry’s help other clubs achieve success.
Easy fatty
Differences with current players:
Henry was always saying he watched Ian Wright’s finishing to improve his own.
Henry was always stressing how Bergkamp improved his game.
Henry had little interest on bling bling.
Nobody caught him smoking cigarettes in bars or even in a picture.
Bring him as a coach and when the time comes and if he is ready, promote from within.
Thierry is very intelligent and equally passionate about our club, that’s a great starting point
Can I just take the time to congratulate Arseblog on their award last night as best football blog, very well deserved
Nice one! Well done 🙂
I’ll second that. Congratulations to both Blogs and Amy on their fully deserved awards. Always interesting, always informative, always topical, always Arsenal. You can’t get any better than that.
I think he was the best player to have ever worn an Arsenal top and the best player to have taken part in the competition nsmed the premier league.
DB10
I would never say dont come back. He is the reason i fell in love with football and chose Arsenal as my family.
thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry
Why not Viera, Bergkamp, Tony Adams, Ian Wright they have all got hteir coaching badge and not playing unlike Henry, after all Wrighty was our highest goal scorer before Henry, and Wrighty has Arsenal blood running through his vein. Wenger practices favouritsm all the time, so it won’t surprise me if he takes over from Wenger. A good footballer don’t necessary make a great manager or coach.
Anyone read the Guardian interview with Titi today? Well worth a look. I love the bit where he’s talking about desire. That’s why I think he would be a good manager. I don’t think he would settle for mediocrity from his players because he won’t settle for it from himself. He always looks for ways to be the best, always questions himself, and that’s something I think he could instill in others if he speaks in the same way as he does in that article.
True legend made by Wenger. Its like people surreptitiously criticise Wenger by saying Alexis is propping up the team, suggesting Arsenal and Wenger should feel lucky. Conveniently ignoring the fact that it was Wenger he bought him. Also conveniently ignoring the fact that Santi has been weighing in with assists and Ox has stepped up. Same crowd will say Wenger inherited the Graham back line for his early success and doe snot know how to construct a defense conveniently ignoring the fact that he brought in Kolo Toure (another converted from a diff position like Henry) and Sol Campbell (bit… Read more »
Then why hasn’t he been able to beat mou once??…hop off wenger’s jock strap.
I think this is a terrible idea. TH14 was an unrivaled, astonishing talent for us. But this would be the same kind of mistake that ManU made after SAF. Worse even — at least Moyes didn’t work under SAF before taking over. Arsene should serve out his contract and, when that is done, there should be a clean break. No anointing successors, no suggesting successors, no favoring successors. The new manager must be free to take the club where he sees fit, free from the dead hand of the past.