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Thierry Henry

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Thierry Henry
File:Thierry Henry 191105.jpg
Personal information
Full name Thierry Daniel Henry
Height 1.88 m / 6 ft 2 in
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Arsenal F.C.
Number 14
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of July 5, 2006

Thierry Daniel Henry (born August 17, 1977 in Les Ulis, Essonne, Paris) (IPA: /tjɛʀi ɑ̃ʀi/) is a French football player and regarded as one of the top players in the world. He currently plays as a striker for the French national team, and for the English club Arsenal, where he is that club's all-time leading scorer in both league matches and all competitions.

Henry has been nominated twice for the FIFA World Player of the Year, both times finishing runner-up in 2003 and 2004. Also, he was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. [1]

He has surpassed Ian Wright to take over as Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with over 200 goals for the club. In 2006, Henry was the first player to score more than twenty goals in five consecutive seasons (2002–2006); winning the European Golden Boot in 2004 and then sharing it with Diego Forlán in 2005.

On 19 May 2006, despite months of speculation linking him with Spanish club FC Barcelona, he renewed his contract at Arsenal under a 4-year deal until 2010.[1]

Biography

Early career

Henry trained at the French Football Federation's academy at Clairefontaine and played at a youth level for CO Les Ulis (1983–1989), then Palaiseau (1989–1990), Viry-Châtillon (1990–1992) and FC Versailles (1992–1993). Henry started his professional career at AS Monaco and was given his début in 1994 by then Monaco manager, Arsène Wenger, at the age of 17. Thierry was put on the left wing by Wenger instead of playing his natural role of striker because the striker position was already occupied by Brazilian Sonny Anderson.

Juventus career

Having impressed in the French national team's triumph in the 1998 World Cup, Henry left Monaco and moved to Italian club Juventus in January 1999 for £10.7 million. At Juventus, Thierry was made to play on the wing and in an unfamiliar position he was unable to cope with Italian defensive discipline, scoring just three goals while starting only 12 games for the Bianconeri.

Arsenal career

Unsettled in Italy, he transferred from Juventus in August 1999 to Arsenal for £10.5 million, reuniting with his former manager at Monaco, Wenger. At Arsenal, Wenger brought Henry back to his familiar role of a striker. At first some doubted whether he was cut out for the English Premiership, failing to score in his first ten games. However, he has flourished ever since first finding the net; Henry has been Arsenal's top goalscorer for each of the seven seasons he has been with the club.

He was made Arsenal captain in the summer of 2005, succeeding the recently departed Patrick Vieira. Regarded by many as Arsenal's best player ever, on October 18 2005 Henry became the club's top goalscorer of all time; two goals against Sparta Prague meant he broke Ian Wright's record of 185 first-class goals. On February 1, 2006, he scored a goal against West Ham, bringing his league goal tally up to 151 and thus breaking Cliff Bastin's Arsenal league goals record. The 2005–06 season also saw him score his 100th league goal at Highbury, a feat unparalleled in the history of the club, and a unique achievement in the Premier League. He also contributes a large number of assists - most notably 23 in the 2002–03 season — an all-time Premiership record.

On May 7, 2006 Henry scored a hat-trick against Wigan Athletic in the club's final game at Highbury. In an emotionally-charged game that ended with Arsenal securing a place in next season's Champions League ahead of local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, the last of Henry's three strikes and the final goal at the old stadium, was a penalty in front of the North Bank. After scoring the penalty, Henry knelt down in a final gesture to kiss the Highbury pitch goodbye.

In the UEFA Champions League 2005-06, Arsenal led the group stages and only conceded 2 goals leading up to the final in Paris. A strike from Henry gave Arsenal a 1-0 win on aggregate against Spanish Giants Real Madrid in the first knockout round. An assist to Fabregas and a goal knocked Juventus out of the quarter-finals. Henry met Barcelona in a star-studded final in Paris on May 17, 2006. The match started badly for Arsenal as goalkeeper Jens Lehmann fouled Samuel Eto'o and was subsequently sent off. Nevertheless, Arsenal took the lead through a Sol Campbell goal, eventually losing 2-1. Henry attracted harsh criticism for missing chances to secure the trophy for Arsenal, being denied twice by the Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Throughout the 2005-06 season Henry was linked with a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid; however he eventually decided to stay with Arsenal, declaring his loyalty and love for the club and accepting a four-year contract after the Champions League final [1].

Henry is currently third in the list of all-time English Premiership goal scorers, 96 goals behind Alan Shearer who is in first place, and 21 goals behind Andy Cole in second place.

Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein claimed the club turned down two bids of £50 million "from Spanish clubs" for Thierry Henry before the signing of the new contract. If either of these bids had been accepted it would have made Henry the most expensive player in the world - breaking the previous transfer record of £47million paid by Spanish side Real Madrid for Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

Awards

Henry has received many plaudits and awards. He was runner-up for the 2003 and 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award while helping Arsenal to an unbeaten record (26 wins, 12 draws) in the Premiership . He has also won the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times, the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the French Player Of The Year on four occasions — an all-time record. In 2004–05, despite Arsenal being the runners-up in the Premiership, Henry emerged with the European Golden Boot for the second consecutive year (albeit sharing it with Villarreal's Diego Forlan in 2005). He is the first ever player to retain the award.

International career

The Frenchman made his international debut in November 1997 against South Africa. Four months earlier, he played for the U-20 French national team in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. He played in France's 1998 FIFA World Cup championship team, on which he was their top-scorer with three goals. Henry was scheduled to appear in the final — where France beat Brazil 3-0 — as a substitute, but a red card forced a defensive change instead. On Bastille Day 1998, he was awarded France's highest decoration, the Légion d'Honneur.

Henry was a member of the Template:Ec2 championship squad, again scoring 3 goals and finishing as France's top scorer, including the equalizer against Portugal in the semi-final. France would later win the game in extra time thanks to a penalty kick by team captain Zinedine Zidane.

However, the 2002 FIFA World Cup featured a stunning early exit for both Henry and France as the reigning champions were eliminated in the group stage after failing to score a goal in any contest. After France lost their first match in group play, Henry was red carded in their next match against Uruguay. France played to a 0-0 draw, but Henry was forced to miss the final match due to suspension which France lost 2-0 to Denmark.

The next year, Henry would return to form at the 2003 Confederations Cup. France, playing without team stalwarts Zidane and Vieira, won in large part to Henry's spectacular play for which he was named Man of the Match by FIFA's Technical Study Group in three of France's five matches. In the final, he scored the golden goal in extra time to lift the host country over Cameroon 1-0. Henry was awarded both the adidas Golden Ball as the outstanding player of the competition and the adidas Golden Shoe as the tournament's top goalscorer.[2]

Henry also played in all of France's games in the Template:Ec2 in which the team beat England in the group stages but lost to the eventual winners Greece 1-0 in the quarter-finals.

Henry was one of the automatic starters in the France squad at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was played in the unfavoured lone striker role, but despite an indifferent start to the tournament, Henry became one of the players of the tournament. He scored three goals and earned two fouls in two knockout-round games that proved to be game-winners, including France's goal against the tournament favourites and returning champions Brazil. France eventually lost to Italy on penalties 1-1 (5-3) in the final. Henry was one of 10 nominees for the Golden Ball award for Player of the Tournament, an award which was ultimately presented to his teammate, Zinedine Zidane.

Career statistics

Thierry Henry is the only player ever to have won three FWA Footballer of the Year awards, in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Club career

(correct as of May 4, 2006)

Club Season League Cup[2] Europe Total
Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
AS Monaco 1994-95 8 3 ? - - - - 8 3
1995-96 18 3 ? 3 0 1 0 22 3
1996-97 36 9 ? 3 0 9 1 48 10
1997-98 30 4 ? 5 0 9 7 44 11
1998-99 13 1 ? 1 0 5 0 19 1
All 105 20 ? 12 0 24 8 141 28
Juventus 1998-99 16 3 ? 0 0 0 - 16 3
All 16 3 ? 0 0 0 - 16 3
Arsenal 1999-00 31 17 9 5 1 12 8 48 26
2000-01 35 17 3 4 1 14 4 53 22
2001-02 33 24 5 5 1 11 7 49 32
2002-03 37 24 23 6 1 12 7 55 32
2003-04 37 30 9 4 4 10 5 51 39
2004-05 32 25 15 2 0 8 5 42 30
2005-06 32 27 7 2 1 10 5 44 33
All 237 164 71 28 9 77 41 342 214
Career totals 357 187 71 41 9 102[3] 49 503 245

International career

National team Season Apps Goals
France 1997-98 9 3
1998-99 2 -
1999-00 10 5
2000-01 8 2
2001-02 9 2
2002-03 13 10
2003-04 12 5
2004-05 8 2
2005-06 11 7
Total 83 36

Family and marriage

On May 27, 2005, Henry celebrated the birth of his first child, a daughter named Tea Henry. Henry is married to English model Nicole Merry. He lives with his family in Hampstead, North London. Of Antillean heritage (his father is from Guadeloupe and his mother is from Martinique), he is fluent in French, Antillean Creole, English and Italian.

Honours

With the French national team:

With Monaco:

With Arsenal:

Personal Honours:

Racism incident

Luis Aragonés became Spain's coach in 2004. During a training session with the national team, a Spanish TV crew caught Aragonés motivating Henry's Arsenal teammate José Antonio Reyes in a strange way ("Give him the ball, and then show that black little shit that you are better than him.") The incident caused an uproar in the British media with calls for Aragonés to be sacked. When Spain played England in a friendly match at the Bernabéu later that year, the crowd was hostile. Whenever black English players touched the ball, large segments of the Spanish crowd began to make "monkey chants."[3][4] The Spanish football federation -- the RFEF -- eventually fined the coach €3,000.[5]

After an investigation, UEFA fined the RFEF 100,000 Swiss francs and warned that future incidents would be punished more severely, from suspension from major international tournaments or the closure of Spain's home international matches to supporters.

Henry and Nike started the Stand Up Speak Up campaign against football racism as a result of the incident. He is now part of Nike's Joga Bonito campaign, Portuguese for "Play beautifully"

Trivia

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b "Henry to stay a Gunner until 2010", BBC Sport, 19 May 2006. 21 May 2006.
  2. ^ Includes French Cup, French League Cup, Coppa Italia, FA Cup, League Cup and FA Community Shield
  3. ^ Includes one Intertoto Cup game with Juventus in 1999-00
Wikiquote has quotations related to Thierry Henry.

Accolades

Preceded by Arsenal F.C. Captain
2005- 		Succeeded by
Preceded by FWA Footballer of the Year
2003, 2004 		Succeeded by
Preceded by FWA Footballer of the Year
2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by PFA Players' Player of the Year
2003, 2004 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Premier League top scorer
2001-02 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Premier League top scorer
2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 		Succeeded by

Template:Persondata

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