He is a club-legend, a masterful record goal-scorer, a talisman; it is actually very easy to run out of superlatives when anyone is trying to describe Thierry Henry.
The New York Red Bulls striker has re-joined his former club at London Colney in order to maintain his fitness while the MLS is taking a break. However, many are assuming Henry’s return to the club could lead to a potential short-term deal.
The Gunners would be without two of their African strikers Gervinho and Chamakh until mid-February, as they will be on international duty. In addition, Arsenal have also been linked with a host of strikers in January.
When Wenger was asked whether he would sign Henry on a temporary deal, this is what the Frenchman had to say:
‘In football you rule very few things out. But it depends if we have injuries until January. At the moment we have a big enough squad to cope.’
The boss also admitted that he still rates Henry’s workmanship as the best, and declares the 34-year-old still has the desire to be compete:
‘Thierry can offer confidence, experience and advice to the strikers who are already here. He is a very intelligent man and that’s always good to have in a dressing room. Thierry loves football, Thierry loves Arsenal. When he is on the pitch, he is still a great player.’
So, should Arsenal re-sign their former French talisman?
Arsenal will be playing a number of games between January and March, and having a player like Henry in the squad would give Wenger another dimension to think about. Most importantly, if he decided to sign Henry on loan, Wenger could offer goal-machine Robin van Persie rest. But some may question whether
Thierry Henry is still good enough?
Henry struggled with injuries during his last season in England, where he managed only 27 appearances and just 12 goals. Even though he did have two good years at Barcelona, his last season in a competitive European league (La Liga, 2009/10) the Frenchman made 32 appearances for Barca, but only bagged 4 goals and 3 assists – this is actually very bad compared to the standards set by Henry himself when he was with us.
Assuming Arsenal manage to sign him, he will be available for a total of 14 matches between January and the start of the MLS season in March. Henry will take at least 3-4 games in order to get used to English football again, meaning he would have spent close to 30% of his time already just adapting.
People might argue that by January he would have completed two months (November and December) of full training with the team, which means he would have already settled in. However, this would not be the case, as per the Premier League ruling Henry, or for that matter, any player who the club doesn’t own cannot feature in the Reserves fixture also. He would have zero game time by the time he signs.
Telling any player of Henry’s age to make a shift from MLS football to the high speed of the Premier League without game time is close to impossible. I’m pretty sure Henry wouldn’t fancy the move.
In my opinion, Arsenal should focus their attentions on signing one of the German strikers they’ve been linked with, or should look at signing a proven striker rather than trying to lure their old talisman back home.
With Gervinho and Chamakh missing a month, Wenger simply cannot afford to play the most important months of the season with just two strikers in his squad. So a striker will need to be added. Is that striker Thierry Henry? I don’t think so.
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Wenger needs to sign him. Any other manager who cares about the history and importance of such players would get him in in a heartbeat.
We missed out on Vieira and a host of others.
Just do it Wenger as he is better than most of the tripe we have as attackers.
Chamakh is a non entity, Park is still getting used to the climate, Arshavin blows hot and cold. We are too reliant on Van Persie, Henry would provide the support and cover we need.
Do it Wenger and forget about the stats and teh fact he is over 30. Such signings help build confidence and experience to a young squad, what you waiting for make the signing that we have been waiting for all these years.
I partially agree. I think we need to buy another striker in January, Park is simply not good enough to play every game for us if Van Persie is injured, So more cover is needed when ACN is on, I would still like to see Henry signed on though, He will be there from the 1st week in January (any other striker we bought wouldn’t be at the club until nearer the end of Jan). He wouldn’t be brought in to rotate with Van Persie, he would be used to come on after 60 mins if we need a goal or if we have already won comfortably which would take a little bit of pressure off RVP and allow him a little rest.
He could certainly be used on the left wing in place of Gervinho if Arshavin hasn’t yet found his form.
I think a 2 month loan deal to cover for the loss of Gervinho would be ideal. Dont need long term cover and someone who will give his all because he loves the club. But we do need someone else because Chamakh I dont think will cut it!