Thierry Henry
{{Infobox football biography
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Thierry Henry biography
{{Infobox football biography
Arsenal (1999–2007)
Unsettled in Italy, Henry transferred from Juventus on 3 August 1999 to Arsenal F.C. for an estimated fee of £11 million, reuniting with Thierry Henry former manager Arsène Wenger. It was at Arsenal that Henry made Thierry Henry name as a world-class footballer, and although Thierry Henry transfer was not without controversy, Wenger was convinced Thierry Henry was worth the transfer fee. Arsenal finished second in the league behind Manchester United F.C., and lost in the UEFA Europa League 2000 UEFA Cup Final against Turkey side Galatasaray S.K. (football team). Armed with one of the league's best attacks, Arsenal closed in quickly on perennial rivals Manchester United for the league title. Henry remained frustrated, however, by the fact that Thierry Henry had yet to help the club win honours, and frequently expressed Thierry Henry desire to establish Arsenal as a powerhouse. although Arsenal failed to retain their Premier League crown. Throughout the season, Thierry Henry competed with Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy for the league scoring title, but the latter edged Henry to the title by a goal. Apart from being named for the second year running as the PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year, Thierry Henry was the co-recipient (with Diego Forlán) of the European Golden Boot, and is currently the only player to have officially won the award twice in a row (Ally McCoist also had two Golden Boots in a row, but both were deemed European Golden Shoe 1991–1996).
The 2005–06 in English football proved to be one of remarkable personal achievements for Henry. On 17 October 2005, Henry became the club's top goal-scorer of all time; two goals against Sparta Prague in the Champions League meant Thierry Henry broke Ian Wright's record of 185 goals. On 1 February 2006, Thierry Henry scored a goal against West Ham United F.C., bringing Thierry Henry league goal tally up to 151, breaking Arsenal legend Cliff Bastin's league goals record. Henry scored Thierry Henry 100th league goal at Arsenal Stadium, a feat unparalleled in the history of the club, and a unique achievement in the Premier League. Thierry Henry completed the season as the league's top goal-scorer, Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein later claimed the club had turned down two bids of £50 million from Spanish clubs for Henry before the signing of the new contract. Had the transfer materialized, it would have surpassed the then world record £47 million paid for Zinédine Zidane. Although Thierry Henry scored 10 goals in 17 domestic appearances for Arsenal, Henry's season was cut short in February. Having missed games due to hamstring, foot, and back problems, Thierry Henry was deemed fit enough to come on as a late substitute against PSV Eindhoven in a UEFA Champions League 2006-07 match, but began limping shortly after coming on. Scans the next day revealed that Thierry Henry would need at least three months to heal from new groin and stomach injuries, missing the rest of the 2006–07 season. Wenger attributed Henry's injuries to a protracted 2005–06 campaign, and reiterated that Henry was keen on staying with the Gunners to rebuild for the 2007–08 in English football. It was revealed that the contract included a release clause of €125 (£84.9) million. Henry cited the departure of Dein and continued uncertainty over Wenger's future as reasons for leaving, and maintained that "I always said that if I ever left Arsenal it would be to play for Barcelona." Despite their captain's departure, Arsenal got off to an impressive start for the 2007–08 campaign, and Henry admitted that Thierry Henry presence in the team might have been more of a hindrance than a help. Thierry Henry stated: "Because of my seniority, the fact that I was captain and my habit of screaming for the ball, they would sometimes give it to me even when I was not in the best position. So in that sense it was good for the team that I moved on." Henry left Arsenal as the club's leading all-time league goal-scorer with 174 goals and leading all-time goal-scorer in Europe with 42 goals;
At Barcelona, Henry was given the number 14 jersey, the same as Thierry Henry had worn at Arsenal. Thierry Henry scored Thierry Henry first goal for Thierry Henry new club on 19 September 2007 in a 3–0 Champions League group stage win over Olympique Lyonnais, and Thierry Henry recorded Thierry Henry first hat-trick for Barça in a league match against Levante UD ten days later. But with Henry mostly deployed on the wing throughout the season, Thierry Henry was unable to reproduce the goal-scoring form Thierry Henry achieved with Arsenal. Thierry Henry expressed dissatisfaction with the move to Barcelona in the initial year, amidst widespread speculation of a return to the Premier League. In an interview with Garth Crooks on BBC Football Focus, Henry described missing life "back home" and even "the English press". However, Henry concluded Thierry Henry 2007–08 La Liga as the club's top scorer with 19 goals in addition to nine league assists, second behind Lionel Messi's 10.
Henry went on to surpass this tally in a more integrated 2008–09 FC Barcelona season campaign, winning the first trophy of Thierry Henry Barcelona career on 13 May 2009 when Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey 2008–09. Barcelona won the league and Champions League soon after, completing a treble for the Frenchman, who had combined with Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o to score 100 goals between them that season. The trio was also the most prolific trio in Spanish league history, scoring 72 goals and surpassing the 66 goals of Real Madrid's Ferenc Puskás, Alfredo Di Stéfano and Luis del Sol of the 1960–61 season. Later in 2009, Henry helped Barcelona win an unprecedented the sextuple, consisting of the aforementioned treble, the Supercopa de España, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.
2009–10 FC Barcelona season, the emergence of Pedro Rodríguez Ledesma meant that Henry only started 15 league games. After Henry returned from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Barcelona confirmed that they had agreed to the sale of Henry to an unnamed club, with the player still to agree terms with the new club.
New York Red Bulls (2010–present)
In July 2010, Henry signed a multi-year contract with Major League Soccer (MLS) club New York Red Bulls for the 2010 New York Red Bulls season as its second Designated Player Rule. Thierry Henry made Thierry Henry full MLS debut on 31 July in a 2–2 draw against Houston Dynamo, assisting both goals to Juan Pablo Angel. Thierry Henry first MLS goal came on 28 August in a 2–0 victory against San Jose Earthquakes. The Red Bulls eventually topped the MLS Eastern Conference by one point over Columbus Crew before losing 3–2 on aggregate against San Jose Earthquakes in the quarterfinals of the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs. 2011 New York Red Bulls season, the Red Bulls were 10th overall in the league, and bowed out in the Conference Semi-finals of the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Loan to Arsenal
After training with Arsenal during the MLS off-season, Henry re-signed for the club on a two-month loan deal on 6 January 2012. This was to provide cover for Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh, who were unavailable due to their participation in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Henry made Thierry Henry second Arsenal debut as a substitute against Leeds United A.F.C. in the 2011–12 FA Cup third round and scored the only goal. On 4 February 2012 Thierry Henry scored Thierry Henry first league goal since Thierry Henry return against Blackburn Rovers in a 7–1 win. The following week, in Thierry Henry last league game on loan, Thierry Henry scored the winning goal in stoppage time in a 2–1 win against Sunderland A.F.C.. The loan expired on 17 February 2012 and Henry returned to Red Bulls.
International career
Henry enjoyed a successful career with the France national football team, winning the first of Thierry Henry 123 caps in June 1997, when Thierry Henry good form for Monaco was rewarded with a call-up to the France national under-21 football team, where Thierry Henry played in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship alongside future teammates William Gallas and David Trézéguet. Jacquet was so impressed with Henry that Thierry Henry took Thierry Henry to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Although Henry was a largely unknown quantity at international level, Thierry Henry ended the tournament as France's top scorer with three goals. Thierry Henry was scheduled to appear as a substitute in the final, where France beat Brazil national football team 3–0, but Marcel Desailly's Misconduct (football) forced a defensive change instead. In 1998, Thierry Henry was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur, France's highest decoration.
Henry was a member of France's UEFA Euro 2000 UEFA Euro 2000 squads France, again scoring three goals in the tournament, including the equaliser against Portugal national football team in the semi-final, and finishing as the country's top scorer. France later won the game in extra time following a converted penalty kick by Zinédine Zidane. France went on to defeat Italy national football team in extra-time in the Final, earning Henry Thierry Henry second major international medal. During the tournament, Henry was voted man-of-the-match in three games, including the final against Italy.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup featured a stunning early exit for both Henry and France as the defending champions were eliminated in the group stage after failing to score a goal in all three games. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup Henry remained as one of the automatic starters in the squad. Thierry Henry played as a lone striker, but despite an indifferent start to the tournament, became one of the top players of the World Cup. Thierry Henry scored three goals, including the winning goal from Zidane's free kick against defending champions Brazil. Henry was one of 10 nominees for the Golden Ball award for Player of the Tournament, an award which was ultimately presented to Thierry Henry teammate, Zidane and was named a starting striker on the 2006 FIFPro World XI team.
On 13 October 2007, Henry scored Thierry Henry 41st goal against the Faroe Islands national football team, joining Michel Platini as the country's top goal-scorer of all time. On 3 June 2008, Henry made Thierry Henry 100th appearance for national team in match against Colombian national football team, becoming the sixth French player ever to reach that milestone.
Henry missed the opening game of France's short-lived UEFA Euro 2008 campaign, where they were eliminated in the group stages after being grouped together with Italy, the Netherlands national football team and Romania national football team. Thierry Henry scored France's only goal in the competition in a 4–1 loss to the Netherlands.
The French team struggled during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and finished second in their group behind Serbia national football team. During the play-offs against the Republic of Ireland national football team, Henry was involved in a France vs Republic of Ireland 2010 FIFA World Cup play-off of the game at the Stade de France on 18 November 2009. With the aggregate score tied at 1–1 and the game in extra time, Thierry Henry used Thierry Henry hand twice to control the ball before delivering a cross to William Gallas who scored the winner. This sparked a barrage of criticism against the Frenchman, while national team coach Raymond Domenech and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger defended him. The Football Association of Ireland lodged a formal complaint with FIFA, seeking a replay of the game, which FIFA declined. Henry said that Thierry Henry contemplated retiring from international football after the reactions to the incident, but maintained that Thierry Henry was not a "cheat"; hours after FIFA had ruled out a replay, Thierry Henry stated that "the fairest solution would be to replay the game". FIFA President Sepp Blatter described the incident as "blatant unfair play" and announced an inquiry into how such incidents could be avoided in future, and added that the incident would be investigated by the Disciplinary Committee. Blatter also said Henry told Thierry Henry that Thierry Henry family had been threatened in the aftermath of the incident. In January 2010, FIFA announced that there was no legal basis to sanction Henry.
Henry did not feature in the starting line-up for France at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France drew in their first game against Uruguay, and lost 2–0 in their second against Mexico national football team. The team was thrown into disarray when Nicolas Anelka was expelled from the team, and captain Patrice Evra led a team protest by refusing to train. In the final group game against host-nation South Africa in which Henry came on as a second-half substitute, France lost 2–1 and were eliminated from the tournament. Thierry Henry then announced Thierry Henry retirement from international football, having won 123 caps and scored 51 goals for Les Bleus.
Style of play
Although Henry played up front as a striker during Thierry Henry youth, This change forced Henry to adapt again to fit into the Arsenal team, and Thierry Henry played many games as a lone striker.
One of the reasons cited for Henry's impressive play up front is Thierry Henry ability to calmly score from one-on-ones. This, combined with Thierry Henry exceptional pace, means that Thierry Henry can get in behind defenders regularly enough to score. When up front, Henry is occasionally known to move out wide to the left wing position, something which enables Thierry Henry to contribute heavily in assist (football): between 2002–03 and 2004–05, the striker managed almost 50 assists in total and this was attributed to Thierry Henry unselfish play and creativity. Given Thierry Henry versatility in being able to operate as both a winger and a striker, the Frenchman is not a prototypical "Forward (association football) Striker", but Thierry Henry has emerged consistently as one of Europe's most prolific strikers.
Awards and honours
Club
Monaco
- Ligue 1 (1): 1996–97 French Division 1
- Trophée des champions (1): 1997
Arsenal
- Premier League (2): 2001–02 FA Premier League, FA Premier League 2003–04
- FA Cup (3): 2002 FA Cup Final, 2003 FA Cup Final, 2005 FA Cup Final
- FA Community Shield (2): 2002 FA Community Shield, 2004 FA Community Shield
Barcelona
- La Liga (2): 2008–09 La Liga, 2009–10 La Liga
- Copa del Rey (1): 2008–09 Copa del Rey
- Supercopa de España (1): 2009 Supercopa de España
- UEFA Champions League (1): 2008–09 UEFA Champions League
- UEFA Super Cup (1): 2009 UEFA Super Cup
- FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2009 FIFA Club World Cup
New York Red Bulls
- Eastern Conference (MLS) (1): 2010 Major League Soccer season
National
France
- FIFA World Cup
- UEFA European Football Championship
- FIFA Confederations Cup
- Hassan II Trophy
Individual
Henry has received many plaudits and awards in Thierry Henry football career. Thierry Henry was runner-up for the 2003 and 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year awards; and in 2004 Thierry Henry was named by football legend Pelé as one of the FIFA 100.
In terms of goal-scoring awards, Henry was the European Golden Boot winner in 2004 and 2005 (sharing it with Villarreal CF's Diego Forlán in 2005) and is the first ever player to retain the award. Henry was also the top goal-scorer in the Premier League for a record four seasons (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006). Henry is currently third in the list of all-time Premier League goal-scorers, behind Alan Shearer and Andy Cole. Given Thierry Henry accomplishments, France's all-time goal-scorer was in Thierry Henry prime regarded by many coaches, footballers and pundits as one of the best footballers in the world. In November 2007, Thierry Henry was ranked 33rd on the Association of Football Statisticians' compendium for "Greatest Ever Footballers". Arsenal fans honoured their former player in 2008, declaring Henry the greatest Arsenal player. In 2009, Henry was voted the best Premier League player of the 2000s. On 10 December 2011, Arsenal unveiled a bronze statue of Henry at the Emirates Stadium as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations.
A summary of Henry's individual awards is as follows:
- Trophées UNFP du football Young Player of the Year (1): 1996–97 French Division 1
- PFA Players' Player of the Year (2): 2002–03 FA Premier League, 2003–04 FA Premier League
- PFA Team of the Year (6): PFA Team of the Year 2000–01, PFA Team of the Year 2001–02, PFA Team of the Year 2002–03, PFA Team of the Year 2003–04, PFA Team of the Year 2004–05, PFA Team of the Year 2005–06
- FWA Footballer of the Year (3): 2002–03 FA Premier League, 2003–04 FA Premier League, 2005–06 FA Premier League
- Premier League Golden Boot (4): 2001–02 FA Premier League, 2003–04 FA Premier League, 2004–05 FA Premier League, 2005–06 FA Premier League.
- Premier League Golden Boot Landmark awards (1): 2004–05 FA Premier League
- Premier League Golden Boot Landmark awards (1): 2004–05 FA Premier League
- Premier League Player of the Month (4): 1999–2000 FA Premier League Monthly awards, 2002–03 FA Premier League Monthly awards, 2003–04 FA Premier League Monthly awards, 2003–04 FA Premier League Monthly awards
- Goal of the Season (1): 2002–03 FA Premier League
- UEFA Team of the Year (5): UEFA Team of the Year Team of the Year 2001, UEFA Team of the Year Team of the Year 2002, UEFA Team of the Year Team of the Year 2003, UEFA Team of the Year Team of the Year 2004, UEFA Team of the Year Team of the Year 2006
- MLS Best XI (1): 2011 Major League Soccer season
- Onze d'Or (2): 2003, 2006
- European Golden Boot (2): 2003-04, 2004-05
- France Football (5): 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
- IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer of the Year (1): 2003
- FIFPro FIFPro World XI (1): 2006
- FIFA World Cup awards All-Star Team (1): 2006 FIFA World Cup All-star team
- FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Ball (1): 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup
- FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Shoe (1): 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup
- UEFA European Football Championship Teams of the Tournament (1): UEFA Euro 2000
- FIFA 100 : 2004
- Time 100 : 2007
- English Football Hall of Fame : 2008
- Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992–93 FA Premier League – 2001–02 FA Premier League)
- - Overseas Team of the Decade
- Légion d'Honneur : 1998
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Henry