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It's Thierry Henry's birthday, one of the most fabulous footballers we've ever had the honour of witnessing.
As a child, young Henry's love for football wavered. His father pressured him to follow the sport, and dragged him from local club to local club. It was at Viry-Châtillon, a tiny team in the south Parisian suburbs, that the big boys of French football began to take notice.
A scout from Monaco watched him play against Sucy-en-Brie. Viry-Châtillon won 6-0. Thierry scored all six. "From Viry-Châtillon to Orsay where I lived," the player said later, "my father took me through every mistake I made in the game."
Monaco asked him to sign for the youth team without a trial. Four years later, as a 17-year-old, he made his debut for the first team. We don't have footage of that (a 2–0 loss to Nice), but did find him scoring two v Lens in a 6–0 win a year later.
A year after that (a tentative patch we won't dwell on), he was named French Young Footballer of the Year and won the league with Monaco. A year after that, he made his debut for France. A year after THAT, he won the World Cup. Big, leggy leaps.
From there it was a pain-in-the-arse eight months in Turin before he came to North London, and back into the warm, cultured arms of Arsène Wenger. Here's 128 seconds of some of his greatest Arsenal goals.
While we're here, want a bit of Thierry for your wall? Fancy him flanked by Patrick and Dennis, too? A piece of football history, captured by @welloffside, can be yours.
Available from the MUNDIAL Print Shop now: http://buff.ly/2Bx8ZoZ
Available from the MUNDIAL Print Shop now: http://buff.ly/2Bx8ZoZ
"When Thierry Henry hit top gear and ran past you, it was like trying to chase after someone on a motorbike." – Jamie Carragher
“The first day Henry came into the dressing room, I did not dare to look him in the face. I knew everything that he had done in England.” – Lionel Messi
