Thierry Henry

Henry is of Antillean heritage; his father, Antoine, is from Guadeloupe, and his mother, Maryse, is from Martinique. He grew up in the heavily urbanised Les Ulis, a tough environment for the youngster. Despite its hardships, the town provided good facilities for footballers. In 1983, the six-year-old Henry showed great potential, which prompted Claude Chezelle to recruit the youngster at the local club CO Les Ulis. Five years later, Henry played his first game for the club. His father put a lot of pressure on him to attend training, although the youngster was not particularly drawn to football. Henry went on to join US Palaiseau in 1989, but after a year his father fell out with the club. Henry then moved to Viry-Châtillon for two years. US Palaiseau coach Jean-Marie Panza followed him there; Henry would name Panza as his mentor in future years.

In 1990, AS Monaco sent scout Arnold Catalano to watch the 13-year-old play. Henry scored all six goals as his side won 6-0. Catalano asked Henry to join Monaco without even attending a trial first. Catalano requested that Henry complete a course at the elite academy Clairefontaine, but the director there was reluctant to accept Henry due to his poor school results. Despite this, Henry was allowed to complete the course, and he joined Arséne Wenger's AS Monaco as a youth player. Subsequently, Henry signed professional forms with AS Monaco and was given his professional debut in 1995. Wenger put Henry on the left wing because he believed that his pace, natural ball control and skill would be more effective against full-backs than centre-backs. In his four seasons with Monaco, the young winger scored 21 goals in 125 appearances, and helped the club win the Ligue 1 title in 1996-97.

In June 1997, Henry's good form was rewarded with a call-up to the U-20 French national team, where he played in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship alongside future teammates William Gallas and David Trezeguet. Within four months, France head coach Aimé Jacquet called Henry up to the senior team. The 20-year-old made his senior international debut on October 11, 1997 in a 2-1 win against South Africa. Jacquet was so impressed with Henry that he took him to the 1998 World Cup. Although Henry was a largely unknown quantity at international level, he ended the tournament as France's top scorer with three goals. He was scheduled to appear in the final-where France beat Brazil 3-0-as a substitute, but the sending off of Marcel Desailly forced a defensive change instead. On Bastille Day 1998, he was awarded France's highest decoration, the Légion d'Honneur.

Henry's good form for Monaco continued during the 1997-98 season, as he helped the club reach the UEFA Champions League semi-final. He then left Monaco in January 1999, one year before his friend and teammate David Trezeguet, and moved to Italian Serie A club Juventus for £10.5 million. The Frenchman played on the wing, but he was unable to cope with the Italian defensive discipline of the Serie A. Henry scored just three goals in 16 appearances.

Unsettled in Italy, Henry transferred from Juventus in August 1999 to Arsenal for £10.5 million, reuniting with his former manager Arsène Wenger. Brought in as a replacement for Nicolas Anelka, he was immediately moulded into a striker by Wenger, a move which would pay rich dividends in years to come. Initially, doubts were raised concerning Henry's adapting to the English game when he failed to score in his first ten games, but he quickly discovered his scoring ability and ended his first season at Arsenal with a goal tally of 26.

The following summer, Henry was a member of France's Euro 2000 championship squad, again scoring three goals, including the equalizer against Portugal 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 Zinedine Zidane. France went on to defeat Italy in extra time in the final, and Henry earned his second major international medal.

Henry's second season with Arsenal proved to be a breakthrough as he became the club's top goalscorer. In the 2001-02 season, Henry netted 32 goals in all competitions as he led Arsenal to a double and his first silverware with the club. 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; France lost 2-0 to Denmark.

Despite international disappointment, 2002-03 proved to be another productive season for Henry, as he scored 42 goals in all competitions while contributing 23 assists, remarkable returns for a striker. In so doing, he led Arsenal to another FA Cup triumph. During the summer that followed, Henry returned to form for his country at the 2003 Confederations Cup. France, playing without team stalwarts Zidane and Patrick Vieira, won, in large part owing to Henry's outstanding 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 with four goals.

Henry was again instrumental in Arsenal's successful 2003-04 season. Together with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pirès, Henry ensured that the Gunners became the first team in more than a century to go through the entire domestic league campaign unbeaten as Henry collected his second Premiership medal. Yet, Arsenal again failed to secure back-to-back league titles when they lost out to Chelsea fc in the 2004-05 season. However, the club did win the FA Cup, and Henry managed 31 goals in 42 appearances. That summer, Henry also played in all of France's Euro 2004 matches. France beat England in the group stages but lost to the eventual winners Greece 1-0 in the quarter-finals.

The departure of compatriot Vieira in the summer of 2005 meant that Henry assumed club captaincy. Along with being chief goal scorer, he was responsible for leading a very young team. The 2005-06 season proved to be one of remarkable personal achievements for Henry but disappointment in the team silverware department. On 17 October 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 goals. On February 1, 2006, he scored a goal against West Ham, bringing his league goal tally up to 151 and thus breaking Arsenal legend Cliff Bastin's league goals record. Henry also scored his 100th league goal at Highbury, a feat unparalleled in the history of the club, and a unique achi

Nevertheless, Arsenal failed to win the league title again, but some hope was preserved when Arsenal, who hitherto never enjoyed much success in Europe, reached the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final. The Gunners eventually lost 1-2 to FC Barcelona, and Arsenal's inability to win the Premiership for two consecutive seasons combined with the relative inexperience of the Arsenal squad caused much speculation that Henry would leave for another club. However, he declared his loyalty and love for the club and subsequently accepted a four-year contract. He reaffirmed this months later by saying "If an opportunity like Barcelona comes again, with all my respect for such a club, I will refuse" and that he will stay at Arsenal for life. 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 materialised, it would have surpassed the world record 47 million euro paid for Zinedine Zidane.

Amidst the summer speculation, 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. However, France subsequently lost to Italy on penalties (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, Zidane. Henry was also named a starting striker on the 2006 FIFPro World XI team.

Henry's 2006-07 season was largely marred by injury, something which was unprecedented in his entire tenure with the Gunners. Although he managed 10 goals in 17 domestic appearances for Arsenal, including the winner against Manchester United on 21 January, Henry's domestic and international season was cut short on 7 March 2007. Having missed games due to hamstring, foot, and back problems, he was deemed fit enough to come on as a late substitute against PSV Eindhoven in a Champions League match, but began limping shortly after coming on. After the match Wenger announced that Henry had suffered new injuries to his groin and stomach muscles. At first it was expected that Henry would miss "a few weeks", but scans the next day revealed that he would need at least three months to heal, thus missing the rest of the 2006-07 season. Wenger attributed Henry's injuries to a protracted 2005-06 campaign, and also reiterated that the latter was keen on staying with the Gunners to rebuild for the 2007-08 season.

On June 25, 2007, however, Henry was transferred to FC Barcelona for a fee of £16.1 million. He signed a four-year deal for a reported £6.8 million per season. It was also revealed that the contract included a release clause of 125 million euro. In an open letter to The Sun, Henry cited the departure of David Dein and continued uncertainty over Arséne Wenger's future as reasons for leaving. Henry will wear the number 14 jersey, as he had at Arsenal.

Henry scored his first goal for FC Barcelona on 19 September 2007 in a Champions League match against Olympique Lyonnais, which Barcelona won 3-0. On 29 September 2007 in a La Liga match against Levante, Henry recorded a hat-trick.

Henry has received many plaudits and awards in his football career. He was runner-up for the 2003 and 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award; in those two seasons, he also won back-to-back PFA Players' Player of the Year titles. Furthermore, Henry is the only player ever to have won the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times (2003, 2004, 2006), and has emerged as the French Player of the Year on four occasions, which is an all-time record. Henry was voted into the Premier League Overseas Team of the Decade in the 10 Seasons Awards poll in 2003, and in 2004 he was named by football legend Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers.

In terms of goalscoring awards, Henry was the European Golden Boot winner in 2004 and 2005 (albeit sharing it with Villarreal's Diego Forlan in 2005) and is the first ever player to retain the award.[50] Henry has also been the top goalscorer in the Premiership for four seasons (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006). In 2006, he became the first player to score more than 20 goals in the league for five consecutive seasons (2002-2006). Henry is currently third in the list of all-time English Premiership goal scorers, behind Alan Shearer and Andy Cole. He is also France's second-highest goalscorer of all time behind Michel Platini, with only one goal separating the two.

With the French national team:

FIFA World Cup
Appearances: 1998, 2002, 2006
Winner: 1998
Runner-Up: 2006
European Championship
Winner: 2000
Appearances: 2000, 2004
Confederations Cup: 2003

With Monaco:
Ligue 1: 1996-97
French Super Cup: 1997

With Arsenal:
FA Premier League: 2001-02, 2003-04
FA Cup: 2002, 2003, 2005
FA Community Shield: 2002, 2004
UEFA Champions League Runner Up : 2006
UEFA Cup Runner Up : 2000

With Barcelona:
La Liga: 2008-09
Copa del Rey: 2008-09
UEFA Champions League: 2008-09
UEFA Super Cup: 2009

Personal Honours:
European Golden Boot: 2004, 2005
FA Premier League Top Scorer: 2001-02, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06
Onze d'Or: 2003, 2006
PFA Players' Player of the Year: 2002-03, 2003-04
FWA Footballer Of The Year: 2002-03, 2003-04, 2005-06
FIFA World Player of the Year
Runner-up: 2003, 2004
World XI Striker: 2006