Thierry Henry

Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, sports broadcaster and former player.

He is currently the manager of the France national under-21 team.

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.

He joined US Palaiseau in 1989, but after a year his father fell out with the club, so Henry moved to ES Viry-Châtillon and played there for two years.

US Palaiseau coach Jean-Marie Panza, Henry's future mentor, followed him there.

In 1990, Monaco sent scout Arnold Catalano to watch Henry, then at the age of 13 in a match.

Henry scored all six goals as his side won 6–0.

Catalano asked him to join Monaco without even attending a trial first.

Catalano requested that Henry complete a course at the elite INF Clairefontaine academy, and despite the director's reluctance to admit Henry due to his poor school results, he was allowed to complete the course and joined Arsène Wenger's Monaco as a youth player.

Henry made his professional debut with Monaco in 1994 before signing for defending Serie A champions Juventus.

Subsequently, Henry signed professional forms with Monaco, and made his professional debut on 31 August 1994, in a 2–0 loss against Nice.

Although Wenger suspected that Henry should be deployed as a striker, he put Henry on the left wing because he believed that his pace, natural ball control and skill would be more effective against full backs than centre-backs.

After a tentative start to his Monaco career, Henry was named the French Young Footballer of the Year in 1996, and in the 1996–97 season, his solid performances helped the club win the Ligue 1 title.

During the 1997–98 season, he was instrumental in leading his club to the UEFA Champions League semi-final, setting a French record, that was broken since, by scoring seven goals in the competition.

Henry had success with France, winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000, and 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup.

By his third season, he had received his first cap for the national team, and was part of the winning team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

He continued to impress at his tenure with Monaco, and in his five seasons with the club, the young winger scored 20 league goals in 105 appearances.

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.

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.

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 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 October 2007, he became his country's record goalscorer, a record he held until December 2022.

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.

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.

Henry is of Antillean heritage: his father, Antoine, is from Guadeloupe (La Désirade island), and his mother, Maryse, is from Martinique.

He was born and raised in Les Ulis suburb of Paris which, despite sometimes being seen as a tough neighbourhood, provided good footballing facilities.

As a seven-year-old, Henry showed great potential, prompting Claude Chezelle to recruit him to the local club CO Les Ulis.

His father pressured him to attend training, although the youngster was not particularly drawn to football.