When it comes to Arsenal legends, there are many of them, but Thierry Henry is one of the most popular. The Frenchman was there when Arsenal won titles in front of sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, he was the member of ‘Invincibles’, an Arsenal team which won the title in 2003 without a single loss, and he scored 226 goals in 370 appearances, which go along with this two Premier League titles and two FA Cups. But it doesn’t mean that he was always the most popular player, at least among his teammates.Toure’s hilarious two-foot tackle on Wenger, Henry and Bergkamp at his Arsenal trialManager Arsene Wenger was in charge of the tactics and the dressing room, but the Frenchman didn’t always did his job, at least according to another Gunners great, Emmanuel Petit. The iconic ponytail midfielder was also a member of the ‘Invincibles’ and played in North London from 1997 until 2000, when he joined Barcelona. Petit and Henry were teammates for three years in Arsenal and also in the French national team, and Hendry even followed Petit’s career path and left for Barcelona (seven years after), but there was one situation when the midfielder didn’t approved his teammate’s actions and made sure he understood.“I had a conversation with Titi Henry in front of Arsene Wenger when we were playing for Arsenal. There were five of us at a sponsor’s event, together with Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira. We had played a few days before, I think at Highbury, and Titi had scored twice. I hadn’t liked his celebration one little bit. He had gone over to the corner flag, with an extremely arrogant attitude. I told him that myself and some of the other players didn’t like the way he celebrated. He understandably didn’t take what I said at all well. But it was all too much as far as I was concerned. I challenged Arsene, and told him it wasn’t my job to tell Henry off – instead it was down to him” said Petit to RMC Sports.Henry: ‘Crying was impossible, I cried alone, and struggled not to break down’Thierry Hendry remained in the club until 2007 when he too ended up in Barcelona, but that part of his career was nowhere hear the Arsenal years. In fact, the Frenchman even had mental health issues.„When I left Arsenal for Barcelona it took me a year to be well. I arrived injured, I’m going through a divorce, I have to learn a new system, you mix it all up, keep playing the mind. In my time it was much more difficult, totally taboo. Even in the group. You came to the locker room: ‘Are you OK? Yes, even if things weren’t going well. Did you sleep well? Yes, even if it wasn’t. Are you in pain? No, even if you were in pain“ admitted Henry to L’ Equipe.
