Thierry Henry 

Thierry Henry

Thierry Hurensohn Henry (born August 17, 1977 in Les Ulis, Paris, France) is a French football player. He currently plays as a striker for English club Arsenal, where he is the club's all time leading goalscorer, and for the French national football team.

Henry is considered one of the most dynamic attacking players in the game today. Many people consider Henry to be the most exciting player to watch in world football.

Although he plays as a striker, his versatility at all aspects of the game makes him more influential than a traditional striker, and he often drops deep to receive the ball from midfield.

Combining speed, vision and creativity, he creates nearly as many goals as he scores. Amongst other things, Henry is well known for his exceptional pace and accurate finishing which puts him at, or near, the top of the Premiership top scorers list each season.

Biography

Henry trained at the French Football Federation's academy at Clairefontaine before starting his professional career at AS Monaco. He was given his debut by then Monaco manager Arsène Wenger at the age of 17. At Monaco, Wenger put Henry on the wing as a temporary measure because the line was already led by Brazilian striker Sonny Anderson.

The Frenchman made his international debut in October 1997 against South Africa. He played in Les Bleus' 1998 World Cup success, and was joint-top scorer for France with three goals; he also was part of the Euro 2000 winning squad, scoring a further three goals. He was also leading goalscorer and named player of the tournament as France hosted and won the 2003 Confederations Cup.

Having impressed in the 1998 World Cup, Henry left Monaco and moved to Italian club Juventus in January 1999 for £14 million. There, he was made to play on the wing, and in an unfamiliar position was strangled by Italian defensive discipline, scoring just three goals while starting only 12 games for the Bianconeri.

Unsettled in Italy, he transferred from Juventus in August 1999 to Arsenal for £10.5 million, reuniting with his former mentor, Wenger. At Arsenal, Wenger converted Henry into a striker, where he has flourished ever since. In the seven seasons he has been at Arsenal, Henry has been the club's top goalscorer for every single one.

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. Although having taken the early lead, the team lost by 2-1, and Henry attracted harsh criticism for missing chances to secure the title for Arsenal, being (twice) denied only by the 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 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 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 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 scored three goals and earned two fouls in two knockout-round games that proved to be game-winners, including the only goal against tournament favorite and returning champion Brazil.

France eventually lost to Italy on penalties 1-1 (5-3) in the final. Henry was substituted at the 107th minute in the second half of extra-time. Henry was one of 10 nominees for the Golden Ball award for Player of the Tournament.

Club career

(correct as of 6 May 2006)

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
AS Monaco	1994-95	8	3	?	?	?	-	-	8	3
	1995-96	23	3	?	?	?	-	-	23	3
	1996-97	36	9	?	?	?	-	-	36	9
	1997-98	30	4	?	?	?	8	6	38	10
	1998-99	13	1	?	?	?	-	-	13	1
									118	26
Juventus	1998-99	16	3	-	?	?	-	-	16	3
									16	3
Arsenal	1999-00	31	17	?	5	1	11	8	47	26
	2000-01	35	17	?	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	-	8	5	42	30
	2005-06	32	27	7	2	1	10	5	44	33
									342	214
	Career totals								503	245

National team

Accolades

Credits : This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the
Wikipedia article "Thierry Henry".