Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977 in Les Ulis, Essonne, France) is a French football player who plays as a striker for the French national team, and for the English club Arsenal, where he is the club's all-time leading scorer in both league matches and all competitions.
Henry has been nominated three times for the FIFA World Player of the Year, finishing runner-up in 2003 and 2004, with the announcement of the 2006 winner to come in Zürich on December. Also, he was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.
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). He won the European Golden Boot in both 2004 and 2005 thus making him the first ever player to retain the trophy.
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.
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.
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 then Arsenal teammate José Antonio Reyes saying, "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." The Spanish football federation -- the RFEF -- eventually fined the coach €3,000.
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 was also a part of Nike's Joga Bonito campaign, Portuguese for "Play beautifully".
Henry trained at Clairefontaine, one of the nine French Football Federation's elite academies 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 because at the time Wenger believed that Henry's pace, natural ball control and skill would terrorise full-backs better than they would centre-backs. Wenger changed his view later, when he signed Henry for Arsenal.
Juventus career
Having impressed in the French national team's triumph in the 1998 World Cup, Henry left Monaco together with David Trézéguet 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 13 games for the Bianconeri.
Arsenal career
Unsettled in Italy, he transferred from Juventus in August 1999 to Arsenal for £11 Million, reuniting with his former manager at Monaco, Wenger. At Arsenal, Wenger moulded Henry into a striker, taking him from his position on the left wing, and this is still regarded as one of his biggest masterstrokes in his time as manager of Arsenal. 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 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, 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 Fàbregas 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.
Henry is currently third in the list of all-time English Premiership goal scorers, 91 goals behind Alan Shearer who is in first place, and 17 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.
Thierry Henry scored Arsenal's first ever goal in the Emirates Stadium on 22 July 2006, during Dennis Bergkamp's Testmonial. On 23 September 2006, Henry played a crucial role in creating the first two goals and then scoring one himself in Arsenal's 3-0 win over Sheffield United which gave them their first victory in the English Premiership at the Emirates Stadium.
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 Euro 2000 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 for a sliding, studs-up challenge 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.
Henry also played in all of France's games in the Euro 2004 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 top players of the World Cup. He scored three goals - including France's goal against returning champion and tournament favourite Brazil- and earned two fouls in two knockout-round games that led to decisive scores, although he was criticised by some commentators for possibly faking a facial injury when winning a foul against Spain. 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.
Henry is France's second highest goalscorer of all time behind Michel Platini.
Style of Play
Henry is well-known for his acceleration, pace, ball control, dribbling, finishing, balance, agility, flair and technique. He is also famous for taking quick free-kicks in order to catch out the opponent's defence. He usually likes to drop deep and receive the ball, before marauding forward down the left wing. This may be due to him spending his early career playing as a left-winger. His pace is such that he can push the ball far ahead of him and run from behind the defender to get the ball again. Also, despite his height, he is also able to accelerate extremely quickly, enabling him to reach top speed in a very short time.
He loves to beat defenders with his explosive acceleration and blistering pace before cutting in from the left for a curling shot, a cut-back or a cross. But he does not restrict his play only to the left wing, going to the right wing occasionally. He also displays some tackling ability, being able to take the ball cleanly away from opponents sometimes with the odd sliding tackle. He is also known for his ability to read the game extremely well and for his exceptionally quick reactions. He can work under pressure very well and is known for his composure on the field. He is also adept at exquisitely-timed forward runs and usually meets a through-ball and mostly converts the chances. He has no fixed style of dribbling, sometimes inventing unorthodox and unique skills to get past opposing defenders.
One of the much criticised aspect of his game is his heading ability, although recently, he has shown remarkable improvement, scoring two goals with headers in two matches. One of the other underrated aspect of his game is his strength. He is sometimes known to combine strength and skill to get past defenders, but with the latter used most often. The solo goal against Real Madrid in the 05/06 Champions League knockout round proved that he can also hold off relatively strong players.
Some offside decisions go against him due to his speed of thought as well as his blistering pace. He is frequently used in a free role inside the opponent's half, giving him much licence to roam about. He likes to hold the ball up by going face to face with a defender, then when a supporting player comes and he is trapped, he passes to that player. His level of technique is such that he can strike a first-time volley extremely sweetly, with the power and spin controlled. His shot power is also known to be quite powerful as well. He is also one of the most naturally two-footed strikers in the world, able to score with both feet, and although his left foot can unleash powerful shots, he still prefers to use his right foot.
