Thierry Henry admits he dreams of managing Arsenal and expects to retain this ambition for the rest of his life
The Frenchman is regarded as one of Arsenal’s best-ever players and is also Gunners’ all-time top goalscorer. He was considered for the managerial job when Arsene Wenger left the club in 2018. But the Gunners decided to hire the more experienced, Unai Emery, instead.
Henry’s first managerial experience came in 2018 when he was named manager of French club AS Monaco. Prior to this, he was the assistant manager of the Belgium national team. He guided them to 3rd place finish in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He left the French club after enduring an underwhelming spell.
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The former Juventus man is currently the manager of MLS side Montreal Impact. But he admits that he would love to return to the Premier League and coach Arsenal one day. The Frenchman’s hope of a third return would come this time as a manager and not a player.
Henry had a torrid spell as Monaco manager
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Henry’s return to his boyhood club was an unmitigated disaster. The 42-year inherited a depleted squad. But his negative tactics and immature man-management did not help his case.
The Frenchman did oversee progress to the semi-finals of the Coupe de la Ligue. But he ultimately paid for performances on the pitch and his own seeming contradictions. Henry’s imperious attitude was evident when young defender Benoit Badiashile failed to push in his chair at a press conference. Henry was also caught on camera abusing the opposition right-back, during Monaco’s 5-1 defeat to Strasbourg. Many reports suggested that Henry conducted himself more like a senior member of the squad than their manager.
A group of senior players reacted by requesting a summit meeting with the board. The club took the players’ dissatisfaction seriously and were quick to dismiss Henry. All-in-all, Henry was his own enemy. One can hope that from his time at Monaco, he has learned a lesson about attitude and preparedness.
Arsenal’s manager job is Henry’s dream
Speaking to French outlet Canal Plus, Henry spoke about becoming the manager of Arsenal one day. He said:
Photo: ESPN
“I do dream of managing Arsenal but I also dream of running up the court and doing a slam dunk. It doesn’t mean it’ll happen. But yes, I’ll want to manage Arsenal until the day I die.
It was already difficult before Arsene left. It was already difficult. I have learnt by coming onto his side of things(coaching), there are things that I heard, that you might hear something from someone you know or I know and we might know things.
But we don’t actually know anything, certainly not enough to speak about it, since then I have decided it is best not to get involved in these sort of things.”
Arsenal are currently ninth in the Premier League table, as they chase Champions League qualification, via a top four finish. The north London side will return to Europa League action with the return leg of their last-16 tie against Olympiakos. They currently have a 1-0 lead over the Greek side.
