The Premiership says Bye Bye to Thierry Henry

After 8 seasons of extraordinary football for Arsenal Football Club, Thierry Henry decided it was time to say Adios. There are two things that come to mind with Thierry’s exit from the Premiership. Firstly, his reasons for leaving and secondly will The Gunners be able to cope without his presence? Today we shall be focusing on his motives for leaving. 

This is what Thierry Henry had to say on leaving Arsenal:(Make sure you read this in a French accent:-)

“Arsene has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately and understandably, he has said that at this moment he will not commit to the club past the expiration of his current deal, which finishes at the end of the coming season. I respect his decision and his honesty but I will be 31 at the end of next season and I cannot take the chance to be there without Arsene Wenger and David Dein.”

We all know that in the past Wenger has always left it to the last minute to sign a new contract and this is the first time I have ever come across a player blaming the exit of a Director to call it an end to his spell at the club. Does Thierry´s reason for leaving have anything to do with not David Dein but his son Darren Dein, who is one of Thierry Henry’s agents and close friends (Darren Dein was the best man at Thierry’s wedding)? Maybe. Talking about Thierry’s wedding, since his decision to go to Sunny Spain we have found out that Thierry is divorcing his British wife (model Claire Merry) and sources close to Thierry claim he was fed up with everything English and needed a change. Football is just like any other job (they just play football and earn loads of money) in which personal life can influence performance at work. Is this one of the reasons he left Arsenal? Maybe. It was a well known “secret” that Barcelona had been following Henry for about 2 years (or even longer) and had Barcelona not beaten Arsenal in the Champions League final (2006) I am pretty sure Henry would have made the move then. However, Thierry’s ego was hurt after that defeat and he decided to sign a new contract and go on to retire at Arsenal,

“At one point it crossed my mind to leave. I’ve never played in Spain and never will. This is my last contract. This is the best country to play football. It’s the passion I like. Here you can do your job in the right way – people here respect the players.”

Did he mention any of this in his farewell? Nope. From an Arsenal point of view it would have been a lot nicer had he given his real reasons and just said he needed a new challenge instead of giving us a load of gibberish about Arsene Wenger and David Dein leaving. 

Last season Henry was disappointing (and injured) but nobody can doubt that he is an Arsenal Legend, all time top scorer with 226 goals in 370 games and most consistent goal scorer Arsenal Football Club (aside from last season) have ever had in their ranks. Want a reminder of how good he actually was? Check out the video. The Premiership and most notably Arsenal have lost a great player!