The former Arsenal forward turned 42 last week, having enjoyed one of the most decorated careers in world football, and is considered as one of the best players to ever grace the Premier League.
Early career:
Henry’s professional playing career first started at Monaco in 1996, under Arsene Wenger, under whom he would later go on to be one of the best strikers in the world. In 1996, Henry became France's Young Player of the Year, and led the U-18 side to the European Championships two years later. His eye-catching performances in the competition earned him a place in France’s 1998 World Cup-winning squad, alongside legends like Viera, Petit, Zidane, and Pires.
After an unsuccessful year at Juventus following his move from Monaco, Henry was reunited with his former mentor, Arsene Wenger, at Arsenal, in the summer of 1999, for a modest £11m. It was here that his career skyrocketed, and the young French forward went on to become one of the Premier League’s greatest ever players.
Arsenal:
Although he primarily played as a left-winger, Wenger converted Henry into a striker, where he gradually blossomed into one of the most lethal forwards English, or in fact, world football had ever seen. After a great first season, his second season in London was even more successful. He became the team's main goalscorer and led them to the FA Cup final, where they agonisingly lost out to Liverpool, at Wembley.
In the 2001/2002 season, Thierry Henry scored 24 goals in the league, winning the league's Golden Boot. He also led Arsenal to Premier League and the FA Cup double. The following year he scored another 32 goals for Arsenal in all competitions, inspiring the Gunners to another FA Cup trophy.
In 2003/2004, Henry was once again the Premier League's top scorer with an amazing 30 goals, in a season where Arsenal won the title without losing a single match. The Invincibles, as they were subsequently nicknamed, were one of the greatest footballing squads, and Henry was the star of them all. The Frenchman also captained the North Londoners to the 2006 UEFA Champions League final, where they lost to Barcelona, the same city he moved to a year later, for 24 million pounds.
He left Arsenal a legend, their record goalscorer with 228 goals, having won two FA Cups and two league titles at the club. Henry also won a number of personal accolades, including runner-up for the FIFA World Player of the Year twice, PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the FWA Footballer of the Year three times. By the time he left England, he was already considered perhaps the best player to play in the Premier League.
Barcelona and MLS:
Henry was part of the legendary Barcelona side that won six trophies under Pep Guardiola in 2009. In 2010, he moved to the MLS with New York Red Bulls, eventually retiring from the game in 2014.
National team:
Henry also enjoyed great success with the French National team, following the World Cup victory in 1998 with the UEFA Euro triumph in 2000. He narrowly missed out on the 2006 World Cup in which France reached the final, losing to Italy on penalties. He is also France’s all-time record goalscorer with 51 goals.
Managerial career:
Henry first started coaching Arsenal's youth teams in 2015, before becoming second assistant coach of the Belgium national team, working alongside head coach Roberto Martínez, a year later. He helped the Red Devils to a 3rd place finish in the 2018 World Cup, and was subsequently promoted to Belgium assistant coach. However, his tenure in the role was short-lived, after he accepted the role as head coach at former club Monaco, who were struggling. His managerial inexperience shone through, and he could not turn the club’s fortunes around, eventually being fired after just 4 wins from 20 games in charge.
