Thierry Daniel Henry is a French professional football coach, pundit, sports broadcaster, and former player. He is considered one of the greatest strikers of all time, and one of the greatest players in Premier League history. He has been named by Arsenal as the club’s greatest ever player. Thierry Henry was runner-up for both the Ballon d’Or in 2003 and the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. He was named the FWA Footballer of the Year a record three times, the PFA Players’ Player of the Year a joint-record two times, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year six consecutive times.
He was also included in the FIFA FIFPro World XI once and the UEFA Team of the Year five times. In 2004, Henry was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players. Henry made his professional debut with Monaco in 1994 before signing for defending Serie A champions Juventus. However, limited playing time, coupled with disagreements with the club’s hierarchy, led to him signing for Premier League club Arsenal for £11 million in 1999.
Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal’s all-time leading scorer with 228 goals in all competitions. He won the Premier League Golden Boot a record four times, won two FA Cups and two Premier League titles with the club, including one during an unbeaten Invincible season. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final.
Henry transferred to Barcelona in 2007 and in the 2008-09 season, he was a key part of the club’s historic treble when they won La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League. In 2010, he joined Major League Soccer (MLS) club New York Red Bulls and returned to Arsenal on loan for two months in 2012, before retiring in 2014. Henry had success with France, winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000, and 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup.
He was named French Player of the Year a record five times, named to the UEFA Euro 2000 Team of the Tournament, awarded both the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Ball and Golden Shoe, and named to the 2006 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team. In October 2007, he became his country’s record goalscorer, a record he held until December 2022.[11] After amassing 123 appearances and 51 goals, Henry retired from international football after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
After retiring, Henry transitioned into coaching. He began coaching Arsenal’s youth teams in February 2015, in tandem with his work as a pundit for Sky Sports. In 2016, he was appointed as an assistant coach at Belgium, before assuming the role as the head coach at Monaco in 2018. He was relieved of his duties at Monaco in January 2019 and returned to MLS less than a year later to manage Montréal Impact. He led Montréal to the playoffs in the 2020 season before departing in 2021, returning to his role as an assistant coach for Belgium for a year and a half.
Some of the best quotes from Thierry Henry are listed below.
- “A lot of different races and nationalities play football, so it is a good way to try and stop racism.” – Thierry Henry
- “And I don’t really like golf. I know a lot of English footballers play, but I know that if I go with the club to play, sooner or later I will end up trying to smash the ball with my foot.” – Thierry Henry
- “And I don’t watch cricket. How can you like a game that requires you to take four days off work to follow a test?” – Thierry Henry
- “Arsenal is in my blood as well as my heart. I will always, always, always remember you guys. I said I was going to be a Gooner for life and I did not lie because when you are a Gooner, you will always be a Gooner. This club is in my heart and will remain in my heart forever.” – Thierry Henry
- “At the end of the day, you either want or you don’t want to know about it. It’s a mercy thing – you have to give back. However you do it, you have to give something back. You have to.” – Thierry Henry
- “Barcelona is always a club that, at the beginning of the season, wants to win everything. I will try my best to do that with them and I’m sure I will help as much as I can.” – Thierry Henry
- “Being seen as the best striker in Europe doesn’t spur me on-it’s helping my team to success. That’s my only aim. I’m not a machine.” – Thierry Henry
- “But one thing you need to do in the game, is to adapt and adjust your game to what you have been asked to do and also to what your body is telling you to do.” – Thierry Henry
- “But, at the moment, when I step on the pitch, when I have the ball I know it’s mine. It’s just a feeling.” – Thierry Henry
- “For years Paul Scholes has been one of the best players in the Premiership. He’s incredible. He has always been under-rated throughout his career. He’s a team player, a one and two-touch footballer who makes good decisions on the pitch and makes his team play.” – Thierry Henry
- “I always think about what I missed, and I think that was my driving force – never be satisfied with what I’ve done.” – Thierry Henry
- “I am a believer in passing the ball on the ground, I was lucky to be part of teams like that at Arsenal, with the French national team and with Monaco and at Barcelona. I know you can win in other ways, but I believe that is the way football should be played.” – Thierry Henry
- “I am not a cheat and never have been.” – Thierry Henry
- “I can’t stay in the box and wait for the ball. I can’t – I would die.” – Thierry Henry
- “I can’t think of a striker in the world who has scored so many important goals, never mind a midfielder.” – Thierry Henry
- “I don’t like to plan anything.” – Thierry Henry
- “I eat football, I sleep football. I am not mad I am just passionate.” – Thierry Henry
- “I have the possibility to watch Messi in training each morning, and because of what he demonstrates he is the best player in the world, he stated during a press conference. It is a pleasure to watch him, and because of the way he plays he is an undisputed leader of the Barcelona team.” – Thierry Henry
- “I have to say that when I was young, when any politician was talking I wasn’t even interested. Maybe they were saying some nice stuff, but then if you put Michael Jordan on TV, I was interested!” – Thierry Henry
- “I hope you have enjoyed watching as much as I have enjoyed taking part.” – Thierry Henry
- “I like to score a proper goal, you know – a passing move.” – Thierry Henry
- “I may be French, but I’m playing for Arsenal.” – Thierry Henry
- “I only deal in what is real. To be honest, I’ve never thought about what I could get out of football or where it would take me. I just wanted to play. I’m the same now.” – Thierry Henry
- “I take the ball, I go wide, I cross, I shoot, but when the moment beckons, I am ready to make the difference.” – Thierry Henry
- “I’ll never forget the club or him I don’t see Arsenal without Arsene Wenger.” – Thierry Henry
- “I’m obsessed by the idea of making my mark on history. And Arsenal is my paradise.” – Thierry Henry
- “I’m still young and everyday I want to learn more. I feel I am beginning to find myself.” – Thierry Henry
- “If I had a Paul Scholes in my team, everything would be around him. At Manchester United, they saw it like that, but I think Paul Scholes is one of the best I’ve played against in this league, and seen anywhere.” – Thierry Henry
- “In football you always get judged on your last game. Whoever you are, or how amazing you are, it’s the last game that everyone has seen.” – Thierry Henry
- “In New York it seems like there’s no Monday or Saturday or Sunday. The town is always moving. The vibe is great.” – Thierry Henry
- “It is important for me to feel at home.” – Thierry Henry
- “It was tough at the time but when I was younger, my Dad. I would say my Dad, because without him I wouldn’t have been here. I mean it was tough for me because he was really demanding. With him, it was never enough, you know, anything I did was never enough.” – Thierry Henry
- “It’s difficult to talk about Pele because I didn’t see him.” – Thierry Henry
- “It’s not about me, it’s about how I can help my team to achieve more. And I do that through scoring goals.” – Thierry Henry
- “King would get the ball off you without you even noticing he’s the only defender in England who doesn’t hold onto you, and he sometimes still gets the ball off my feet easily.” – Thierry Henry
- “My dad always taught me to never be satisfied, to want more and know that what is done is done.” – Thierry Henry
- “No, because retiring is stopping. If I wanted to stop, I would have stopped.” – Thierry Henry
- “People always see the goals, and for me, strikers are not only about scoring goals.” – Thierry Henry
- “People are talking about me more than they talk about Eastenders.” – Thierry Henry
- “Quite simply, it is true that I can be a pig! It is not a lie to say that. Sometimes, I feel that I am in the right even when I am wrong.” – Thierry Henry
- “So many people say that obviously my game has changed since I arrived here and I say that it’s good that it changed, otherwise it would show a lack of intelligence.” – Thierry Henry
- “Sometimes in football you have to score goals.” – Thierry Henry
- “That’s the way I’ve been educated: I always think about what I missed and the things that you did, you did them, so you don’t have to think about them any more.” – Thierry Henry
- “The moment I’ve got a ball at my feet, I’m happy.” – Thierry Henry
- “There are many things I want, and the only way I will get them is to keep my head down, listen to the right people and work hard.” – Thierry Henry
- “There’s just something about Highbury that is difficult to describe. When you first arrive, you hardly see the stadium and wonder where it is but then you find it between two blocks of flats.” – Thierry Henry
- “There’s nothing I’m scared of in football.” – Thierry Henry
- “We all love the first Rocky, but I’m not too sure about the last one.” – Thierry Henry
- “What I believe is this: Catalunya is not Spain, it is something else and you have to feel it.” – Thierry Henry
- “What Leo does is so incredible that I have to be careful not to stand still watching him make his moves.” – Thierry Henry
- “What makes the difference between a great player and just a normal player is dedication, work, commitment.” – Thierry Henry
- “When I go home, sometimes, even when I had an amazing game, I always think about what I missed.” – Thierry Henry
- “When I was younger I was trying to do what I wanted to do, not what the game wanted me to do.” – Thierry Henry
- “When you look at other sports, like golf, the players earn a lot more money without running around.” – Thierry Henry
- “Without any doubt the best player in the Premiership has to be Scholes. He knows how to do everything, and he is one who directs the way his team plays. On top of that, he has indestructible mental strength and he is a genuine competitor.” – Thierry Henry
- “You can never have enough trophies. If there were ten to be won a year I’d want to win them all! That’s not being greedy, it’s just a natural thing.” – Thierry Henry
- “You kind of never leave Arsenal. How many comebacks do you make? At one point it will turn out to be a bad move. We all love the first Rocky but I’m not too sure about the last one.” – Thierry Henry
- “You learn from your mistakes.” – Thierry Henry
