Au Revoir Titi: All The Best
The Man, The Myth - The Legend…
Well even the official Arsenal website has confirmed that Thiery Henry will be leaving Arsenal Football Club for Barcelona subject to a medical on Monday.
And the deal is reported to be for 4 years.
What can you say?
From Theirry’s point of view it’s a great move. He is 30 and now has a chance to play for Barcelona who are a huge club and have some of the best players in the world with Ronaldinho, E’eto and Messi. He is leaving a club which is still in transition and at his age I suppose he doesn’t have time to wait for honours, especially the Champions League which is the only major title he is yet to win in his illustrious career.
From Arsenal’s perspective £16 million for a player that cost £10.5 million and has given his best years to our club - scoring over 200 goals in the process - isn’t as bad as it could have been.
But boy does it hurt.
Many Arsenal fans including myself will wish Thierry all the best and there’s no doubt he has been a fantastic servant to the club - an unbelievable legend in fact - but seeing him play in a Barcelona shirt next season is going to painful.
He has been such a massive part of our club for so long that you wonder what will happen next. Surely Arsenal have to bring in someone to replace him?
The biggest concern to most fans now is the status of some of the other players in the squad, as well as the manager. I know Henry hasn’t at his peak last season with all his injuries but there’s no doubting he is still an excellent player, and by far the best player in the Premier League over the last few seasons.
Arsenal and the Premiership will miss him dearly.
What will Fabregas, Gallas, Toure and the others think of Titi’s departure?
It does seems strange that Arsenal would rather have £16 million, which in all honestly isn’t much in the transfer market, than keep an icon who would attract people to the club - and more importantly make our current players stay here.
With all the speculation surrounding Henry’s future I suppose his move comes as no great surprise - but it still a painful experience. How many Arsenal fans actually thought he was going to leave?
Hopefully Arsene has something under his sleeve - or maybe Dein’s departure is tearing up the club. Only time will tell.
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Right now we need to hear from Arsene. The feeble statement on Arsenal.com is an insult to fans. The management and board owes us a reasonable explanation of our direction for 07-08
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:07 pm
My favorite Henry moment was when I was listening to radio commmentry of our uefa cup run, I think it was against Lyon and the commentary went:
Gol whhhattt aa gooooallllll Teeaairrreeeeeeeeeeyy Onnnreeeeey
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:20 pm
screw henry - what do you call something that leaves a sinking ship? a rat.
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Why so cheap - it’s the same price as Darren Bent is going for FFS! And Sheva went for twice that at a year older! I know you don’t want to sell him to us - but start a bidding war and get 25 mil!
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:25 pm
as a spurs fan im obviously delighted that henry is leavnig arsenal. as a football fan he will be a great loss to the premiership.
that said, i actually think that this will be a good deal for arsenal. whilst 16m doesnt seem a huge amount of money for one of the best players in the world, having missed a whole year last season, there are no gurantees he will come back the same player.
even if he does, at 29, henry for me only as 2 years maximum left at the top of his game. he is a player that relies on his pace and athleticism and this is not going to last much longer. yes, barcelona may well get 2 good years out of him, but with 16m arsenal can go and find a younger model.
in my opinion the real point is being missed here. the sale of henry is concerning for arsenal not because they’re losing henry, but because they might lose wenger as well. if that were to happen, there really would be a crisis.
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:27 pm
For what it’s worth, my thoughts are this:
Henry wanted to go; no amount of excuses about Dein leaving or Wenger not committing his future can cover that fact because those excuses simply don’t add up. Why would a player leave the club they “love” because a Director left and there’s a risk that Wenger may go, to join a club that doesn’t have Dein nor Wenger!
Henry is an Arsenal legend even though this whole debacle (since before last summer!) has tainted his image for Arsenal fans. I appreciate what he has done for the club and think we should all remember the good times; it’s just a shame his love for the club did not extend to that of players like Bergkamp and Adams. Fair enough, he wants to play in La Liga…I just wish he’d been honest enough to admit it last year rather than dragging us all through this saga.
The future - as long as this doesn’t lead to an exodus of Cesc, Wenger, Toure, etc we still have a bright future. RVP is class and I’m still replaying Walcott’s goal in the CC Final in my head because there were so many comparisons to Owen’s style of finishing. My hope is that Walcott is now given the chance to scare defences as a centre-forward rather than stuck on the wing. Add another striker to the mix (Owen at a reported £9 million would be a good punt assuming he is put through a rigorous medical!) and we still have a class team!
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Henry leaving benefits Adebayor. Reyes should be made to come back. I see Van persie, Reyes, and others doing well knowing there is no one to boss them around.
The bad news for us is that next year might be worse with Wenger and other players leaving!
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
I’m sitting on the fence with this one. Yes it is a sad loss for Arsenal and the premiership because lets face it who’s been the best foreign import? Yup you got it Thierry Henry. He’s won everything possible with Arsenal apart from the Champions League. I think if Arsenal had of won it that time against Barca he would of stayed for good and finished his career here. But personally I think he thinks Arsenal aren’t good enough to win the Champions league and that he can with Barca. Wouldn’t it be amusing/ironic if Arsenal were to win it next season and beat Barca along the way to doing so? Owen is finished I think, I wouldn’t sign him, he’s had too many injuries to take a risk. Martins I wouldn’t sign either, yes he does have speed and whatever skill he has I don’t know because I’ve not seen it. As for Freddie, leave him be - let him finish @ AFC because lets face it Hleb isn’t exactly scoring is he so Freddie can’t be any worse but in Freddie’s defence he has been injured alot so I think he can still provide a service for us more so than Hleb. Awww poor spud fan happy to see Henry leaving, doesn’t matter we still beat ya 3-0 without him and we stuffed ya in the CC too with “the kids”. As for alot of posts I’ve seen on other sites - please stop saying we have to replace Henry! Truth be known there isn’t a replacement for him because if there was wouldn’t Barca be tracking that player? To be honest I think we did ok last season with Henry being injured or whatever excuse there was. Yes we didn’t score as many goals but least we got 4th place! Rvp will do the business for us next season and Ade will improve infront of goal. Walcott to play upfront and not on the wings because no-one can score a header for us lol
*rant over*
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Henry was the reason for our success. I really do believe tha tw/out Henry..the Wenger myth will not exist. I believe Henry created ‘Wenger’…and not the other way round. It turns out it was even his idea to join the club…and chased Arsene around to get to Arsenal.
Anyhow, I wish him well. He has carried us on his shoulders for years. The club no longer has ambition and is satisfied w/ kids and fourth place. He cannot wait arnd ..to see whether the experiment succeeds. Henry has earned the right to leave. His mark will remain w/ all TRUE arsenal fans forever.
I say we retire no 14. Aurevoir Thierry.
June 23rd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Just shows without the influence of Dein on every board around the gooners are nothing. Va Va Voomed to Barca, Aresehole Whingebag sure to follow out of the Emigrants. You really must be the biggest selling club around. Henry, Cole, Campbell, Viera, Petit, Overmars with Fabregas, Rosicky and Toure to follow. Gallas must be wondering what he got himself into.
Pride of North London? COME ON YE SPURS!!!!!!!!!
June 23rd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Our player has just Hennigrated to the Barceholes
June 23rd, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Really hasn’t sunk in that we will be an Henryless Arsenal next season but 1 good thing could be for the younger players to cop on. I got the feeling that the ridiculous points dropped during the season were down to inhibitions of the younger lads to show what they are capable of. Henry I dont think helped he’s a whinger and not exactly a role model to look up to in my opinion arrogant when he’s good but when things were’nt going his way quick to blame others, at least silva or probably toure can now officially captain the team and get a proper dressing room feeling back u might see the best out of players like RvP, Walcott Rosicky etc but defo a decent signing or 2 to show this intent!!
June 23rd, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Sad to see Henry go , however if we can get top class replacement (torres , Etoo,Villa , ETC) I think we can still do well we need Sagna , Torres and Babel AT LEAST!!!
June 23rd, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I agree Obcesc Good points made
June 23rd, 2007 at 4:46 pm
No matter what has happened, I still believe, arsenal is going to deliver big time next season. Just wait. Be ready to wipe out those tears you now have. We have the weapons to deliver. Let us all be behind our team. Come on Van persie!!!!!, show us what you got.
June 23rd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
As a gooner fan, I really appreciate all he’s done for AFC. Thank you for the fantastic memories.
That said, last season he showed the kinda form that got Viera and Pires sold. Coping with half the season without Henry probably convinced Wenger that it’s time to move on without him, just like Pires the season before and Viera two seasons before. To me, it’s not as though we “lost” Henry to Barca - fact is, Wenger sold him (or at least allowed him to leave). He’s ice cold ruthless in that way.
Personally, I don’t think Wenger will jump ship at the end of the next season - he’s on the verge of a whole new generation of players, and he may be thinking of seeing this next batch through before retiring from football.
June 23rd, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Edy - you twat!
June 24th, 2007 at 10:49 am
After reading about twety sites today, it is obvious that there are two camps developing. One pro henry to leave & one anti. I am definitely in the Pro camp.
I see this as a 12 month plan that Arsene has been working on. I genuinely think he realised that TH was never going to been that same as before, so planned to get him fit enough to sell.
I also think Arsene knows that if & when The yank takes us over, David Dein will be back and Arsenes path to directorship will be clear. It will also comit him to staying until retirement.
If Im correct, then expect the other side of his plan to start happening very soon with the capture of 3/4 top quality players to add to our wonder kids. If Arsene’s negotiations have gone as well as I think they may have recently in Spain & France, (Hence the agreement to sell Henry) we may some big reasons to celebrate soon.
IFFFFF…owen is 100% then he would be worth a gamble as he is still very young and has that nose for space & striking that all our current squad lack.
Anelka is proven but if Dein is to return, Nick wont be welcome. So Babel, Huntellar & Curis Davies would be a great investment.
So bye Titi and thanks. We will wave to you on the way to the double next year ie; the League & Champions Cup.
Finally to all those Spuds/Chelski/Manure fans who have been celebrating the news, I say…….JUST REMEMBER WHAT WE DID TO YOU ALL WITHOUT HENRY LAST YEAR !
June 24th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
To be honest, after hearing the news of Henry’s departure to Barcelona, was he a great captain for Arsenal ? The answer is, no not really.
Loved his goals and the unpredictable, but Viera was a bigger loss for me. Henry hardly played at the end of last season and he was not a great team captain. Too sulky for that.
The difference with these players is, we are all Arsenal until the day we die. The same for supporters of other clubs. So no matter what players like Henry say about supporting Arsenal while wearing a Barcelona shirt, we are the only ones who will support this club forever.
And now it’s time for Edelman and Hill-Wood to start spending big and competing with Man Utd and Chelsea. No more excuses, get the cheque book out. I’m sick of hearing the excuses about the cost of the Emirates etc.