Happy Birthday Titi!

Thirty-five years ago on this day, a boy was born, to second-generation immigrants of Antillean heritage, in the Les Ulis neighbourhood in Essone, a suburb near Paris. He was named Thierry Daniel Henry. His father Antoine would take him to see Paris St. Germain playing and would boast to fans that he would become a great footballer. Henry told GQ in an interview in 2007 about his childhood and how his father influenced him to become a footballer.

Henry said:

“When he first took me in his arms as a baby, he didn?t say I was cute or ugly or looked like anyone, he just said, ‘This boy is going to be a great footballer?.’

?He used to take me to see Paris St Germain and I remember when I was eight, he had this argument with another fan.

?And he turned to this guy and said, ‘See that boy there? He?s going to be on TV soon, playing football?. “

Later on, when Henry was 7 years old, he impressed the local club scout Claude Chezelle from CO Les Ulis and was recruited then. Young Thierry was not interested in football much and was coerced by his father to attend training. In 1989, his youth career started with US Palaiseau. But, he left Palaiseau when his father fell out with the club and joined ES Viry-Châtillon, a local Parisian club. He played at Viry for another two years.

In 1990, when he was 13 years old and still at ES Viry-Châtillon, Henry was spotted by AS Monaco scout Arnold Catalano. Catalano pushed Henry to join the famous Clairefontaine national football academy where he was admitted reluctantly due to his poor academic performance. After graduating from Clairefontaine, Henry joined AS Monaco’s youth side where Arsene Wenger was the manager.

Henry made his professional debut for Monaco on August 31st, 1994 against Nice which resulted in a 2-0 loss. Henry played on the left flank as a winger, owing to his pace, agility and ball control which caused mayhem amongst defenders. In a seven year stint with Monaco, he helped the club win the French title and took them in the UEFA Champions league semi-finals.

In January 1999, Henry left Monaco to join Italian giants Juventus for a £10.5 million deal. At Juve, he found the Italian defensive hard to break down playing on the wings, where he scored only 3 goals in 16 matches. During the summer, Henry was bought out by his old manager at Monaco, Arsene Wenger who was now at the helm of affairs at Arsenal.

Thierry Henry celebrating the goal against Leeds in the FA Cup

It was at Arsenal, where he was metamorphosized into a striker, that Henry became a club legend scoring a total of 228 goals, an all-time club record. Henry played for 8 years at Arsenal along with a short loan spell in January 2012. During his time at Arsenal, Thierry Henry scored magnificent goals, terrorized defences and earned his tag as a formidable world-class striker. He helped Arsenal win the league title and FA Cup in the 2001-02 season and the FA Cup again in 2002-03. The 2003-04 season, which fans often remember as the greatest time ever in the club’s history, Henry together with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljunberg, led Arsenal to an unbeaten season in their league title win. In 2004-05 as captain, Henry was instrumental in the club’s last earned silverware, the FA Cup.

Henry won a plethora of awards at Arsenal including the European Golden Boot, twice, in 2004 and 2005(with Diego Forlan). He was also named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year for the 2002-03 season. In the 2005-06 season, Henry surpassed club legend Ian Wright’s goal record of 185 goals against Sparta Prague in a Champions League group match. In the same season, Henry won the Football Writers Associations’ Player of the Year for the third time. Henry was the league top scorer in 2001-02, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06. He was the runner-up in the FIFA World Player of the Year award race, twice, in 2003 and 2004. He won the French Player of the Year award on 5 ocassions as well: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006.

But it was for his support and loyalty for the club that he won hearts over the world. In the same interview in 2007, when askd about Roman Abrahmovich’s £50million offer to Chelsea, Henry was quoted as saying this:

“Yes, I knew that. And it felt great.

?But I am an Arsenal player and that was that. And every time I scored against Chelsea after that, I kissed the badge to show where my heart lies.?”

In 2006, after the Champions League final loss to Barcelona, there was high speculation that Henry would leave the club, but he signed a new 4-year contract to reiterate his love and loyalty towards the club. Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein had later claimed that the club turned down several offers including a record £50million offer from Real Madrid, this time. Later, when Henry came back on loan deal to Arsenal in 2012, the club unveiled a bronze statue in his honour as one of the club’s greatest where he was reduced to tears. Arsenal fans and football lovers world wide still admire Henry to this day.

Celebrating this great legend today, we say “Happy Birthday Titi!”