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Thierry Daniel Henry, (born 17 August 1977, IPA: [tj?'?i ?~'?i]) is a French football player. Renowned for his pace,[1][2] he plays as a striker for the France national team and English club Arsenal.

Henry   more...grew up in the tough neighbourhood of Les Ulis, Essonne, where as a youngster he played for an array of local sides and showed great promise as a goal scorer. AS Monaco spotted him in 1990, and signed him up instantly.[2] Given his professional club début in 1994, he stayed at Monaco until 1998, where good form earned him an international call up. Henry then moved to Italian giants Juventus, but after a disappointing season playing on the wing,[3] he joined Arsenal for a fee of £10.5 million in 1999.[2]

After a slow start in the Premiership, Henry has since emerged as Arsenal's top goalscorer in almost every season since he joined the club. Long-time mentor and coach Arsene Wenger's conversion of him into a prolific striker has made Henry Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with over 200 goals; with Arsenal Henry has won two league titles and three FA Cups. With France, he has won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. In recognition of his abilities, Henry has been twice nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year,[4] and has twice received the Barclays Premiership player of the season award.[5][6] He is today regarded by many as one of the best footballers in the world.[3][7][8][9] On 23 June 2007 it was confirmed that, subject to passing a medical, he will transfer to Spanish club FC Barcelona for a fee of £16 million.[10]

Contents [hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Early career
1.2 Senior career
2 Awards
3 Style of play
4 Off the pitch
4.1 Racism
5 Career statistics
5.1 Club career
5.2 International career
6 Honours
7 Notes and references
8 External links
9 Accolades



Biography

Early career
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.[2] Despite this, the town provided good facilities for footballers. In 1983, the six-year-old Henry showed great potential, something 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. Henry's 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. He then moved to Viry-Châtillon for two years. US Palaiseau coach Jean-Marie Panza followed Henry to Viry-Châtillon, something which would lead to Henry naming Panza as his mentor in the future.

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, leading to him joining Arséne Wenger's AS Monaco as a youth player. Subsequently, Henry signed professional forms with AS Monaco, and was given his professional début in 1995. Wenger put Henry on the left wing because he believed that Henry's pace, natural ball control and skill would be more effective against full-backs than centre-backs. In his four seasons with Monaco, Henry scored 21 goals in 125 appearances, and helped the club win the Ligue 1 title in 1996-97.[11]

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 team-mates William Gallas and David Trézéguet.[12] Within four months, France head coach Aimé Jacquet called Henry up to the senior team. The 20-year-old made his  less