Arsenal’s best seasons in the Premier League under Arsene Wenger came with Thierry Henry leading the line, but the French forward’s signing wasn’t always set in stone
Thierry Henry speaking at the 2024 Olympic Games
A chance meeting between Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger paved the way for what would become one of the Arsenal manager’s most important signings for the club.
France forward Henry remains Arsenal’s all-time top scorer to this day, with 228 goals for the club. He formed a key part of title-winning squads in 2001-02 and 2003-04, as well as playing his part in the Gunners’ run to the 2006 Champions League final.
Henry even returned for one last hurrah in 2012, playing his part as Arsenal pipped Tottenham to Champions League qualification. All in all, his 175 Premier League goals leaves him seventh in the league’s all-time standings.
Wenger hasn’t returned to management since leaving Arsenal in 2018, but he’s been followed into the dugout by his former protege. And former forward Henry, who has led France’s under-23 side to the Olympic football semi-finals, previously explained the coincidence which helped accelerate his move to Arsenal in the first place.
“A few years after Arsène left Monaco, he came to watch a game between Juventus and Udinese that I played in,” Henry recalled in comments from 2018 shared by Arsenal. “After the match, I was going back to Paris and he was on the same plane.
“He told me he’d been at the game. We exchanged numbers and he told me that he didn’t understand why I was playing on the wing. At the time, I was actually playing as a wing-back!
“He told me I was wasting my time and that he remembered me as a no. 9. He said it would be great if we could meet him again, and the rest is history.”
Thierry Henry at his Arsenal unveiling
Henry’s Olympic team have dominated in their home Olympics. They won all three of their group games without conceding a goal, before a Jean-Philippe Mateta goal was enough for them to get past Argentina in the quarter-finals.
France can move one step closer to a gold medal with victory over Egypt in the semis. However, after their victory over Argentina ended in a brawl, Henry sent a reminder to his players about their behaviour.
“One of my players got a red card and I don’t accept that, it shouldn’t happen,” he told TyC Sports (via Eurosport). “‘I couldn’t control what happened. I went to shake [Javier] Mascherano’s hand and, when I turned around, it had happened. We won, but I didn’t like what happened at the end with my players.”
France will play Egypt on Monday, and they will know before kick-off whether Morocco or Spain await them in the final. France have already improved on their showing in Tokyo, where they were eliminated in the group stages.
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