By Omkar Pratapwar
For many years, teams have feared the power and accuracy of Thierry Henry. The French striker began his career at his hometown club and bounced around until he began his senior career at Monaco. He has become one of the most awarded, and recognizable faces in soccer today. In total, Henry has scored over 350 goals in his entire senior career. He remained at Monaco for 5 seasons before transferring to Juventus in 1999, and made the switch then to Arsenal.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger knew Henry from their times at Monaco. Wenger was the manager there and witnessed first-hand how explosive Henry could be. Henry scored 20 goals as a starter at Monaco, and moved to Juventus, before moving to Arsenal like his former manager. Henry terrorized BPL defenses from 1999-2007, and along with now-Manchester United striker Robin van Persie, helped win the BPL title twice, the FA Community Shield twice, and the FA Cup three times. If you ask an Arsenal fan who is in their list of top ten players that have played for Arsenal, I can assure you that Henry will be on that list. Henry scored an impressive 226 times for the Gunners, and was the primary choice for free-kicks and penalties.
Henry would eventually move on to Barcelona, where he maintained his statement that “I always said that if I ever left Arsenal it would be to play for Barcelona”. Henry surprisingly had a great season despite playing in a tough spot on the wing. Although, he fell victim to an expected major decrease in scoring, he still outscored Messi and was the team’s leading scorer in his first year in 2007. Henry would stay there until 2010 when he made 80 appearances and scored 35 goals.
Thierry Henry’s career took him in a whole different direction as he signed for the newly formed club, the New York Red Bulls. Henry became one of the team’s marquee signings and one of the league’s highest paid players. The Red Bulls essentially started from the bottom and quickly rose to become one of the most well-known and best teams in Major League Soccer. Henry re-earned his reputation as a dangerous scorer in the MLS, and has become one of the league’s most popular stars. Henry has starred 4 times in the MLS all-star game, a friendly between an all-star MLS team and a top European team. Henry has still yet one more chance to exit in style by making some classic Henry magic happen in the play-offs, but like Landon Donovan, a special moment for Henry may not happen.
Henry has not only been a legend for his club, but also his country. France has greatly benefited from Henry. He is the all-time leading scorer for the French and is in the top 5 for assists. Henry has played with many of the French greats such as: Zinedine Zidane, Marcell Desailly, Didier Deschamps, and Patrice Vieira. Henry has not struggled to make his mark on the French National Team. Henry was a World Cup winner in 1998, and decided to call it quits after a poor overall and individual outing from the French and Henry in the 2010 world cup in South Africa.
Henry is a highly decorated and a highly talented soccer player and will forever be engrained in the history books as a superstar for club and country. He has earned such accolades such as World Cup champion, The Golden boot, he was named to the English Football Hall of Fame, and he was also listed in Pele’s list of 125 all-time greatest players. However Henry has faltered in recent years, and is somewhat ending his career in opposite fashion than Landon Donovan. Henry is calling it quits after his struggles, but Donovan is playing club soccer in his prime. Nevertheless, Henry will forever be immortalized as a Legend.
