by Thierry Henry has finished his MLS career and it seems the former Arsenal superstar couldn’t quite understand the level his teammates were at.
After moving from England, he joined Barcelona and was an integral part of the front three, which also included Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o, who scored over 100 goals in a season.
Pep Guardiola’s side won the treble, consisting of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, with Henry in the side and defended the league title the following season.
After three years in Spain, the French forward crossed the Atlantic to join the New York Red Bulls in MLS, scoring 50 goals in four seasons, also returning to Arsenal on a short loan in 2012.
Henry may not have played to the same standard in those last few years, but it seems the 1998 World Cup winner still expected a similar standard from his teammates.
The 45-year-old recently appeared on the Lade Out podcast alongside Red Bulls teammate Bradley Wright-Phillips, who is sixth on the league’s all-time leading goalscorer list.
Wright-Phillips told a story about how Henry seemed to expect as much from his teammates as he did from himself.
“I’m not asking you to take the ball and dribble everyone,” Henry said, trying to explain that he didn’t expect the players to be at his level.
“Oh, well, once,” Wright-Phillips interjected, before continuing to tell the story.
“Once we train. So the midfield was trying to build and score. We attack, we strike.
“The midfielders then did not turn and play forward and I made the mistake of telling T.[hierry Henry]’Hey, everyone’s complaining that it was too tight.’
“And T was like, ‘It’s not tight.’
“And I go, ‘It’s kind of tight.’
“He looked at me like ‘Oh, is it too tight?’
“And I was like ‘struggle.’
“So he runs back, takes the ball from the goalkeeper, turns, tackles someone, dribbles past someone, plays me and I score.
“It’s just…I know now, as I’m jogging back, he’ll be looking, I’m looking and he’s like ‘Is it still too tight?’ It’s still;”
“And I was like, ‘Bro, not everyone can do that!’
Henry explained, “It’s difficult as a player because, like for me, I could see that it wasn’t tight. Because with my skills and what I could see.”
Henry is still popular in the US thanks to CBS’ excellent Champions League coverage, usually alongside Jamie Carragher, Micah Richards and Kate Abdo.
It’s often all laughs in the studio, but the former Montreal Impact manager is also more than capable of providing great opinions and analysis.
It won’t be long before we find out if he was heard, with the award being presented on October 17th.
