The real reason Arsenal sold club legend Thierry Henry finally revealed | Football

For Arsenal supporters of a certain age, the day the club confirmed Thierry Henry’s departure is etched into the memory banks.

After eight glorious years in north London, Arsenal’s record goalscorer and then captain followed the likes of his fellow Invincibles Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira by seeking a fresh challenge abroad.

The opportunity at the age of 29 to join Barcelona’s star-studded team, coached by an emerging managerial force in Pep Guardiola, proved too good to resist.

For Arsenal, meanwhile, an offer of €24 million for a player whose best years appeared to have been behind represented outstanding value, especially given the need to pay off the debt accumulated following the construction of the Emirates Stadium.

While most assumed at the time that there was sentimental element to allowing Henry a dream move that would allow him a shot at finally winning the Champions League, Arsenal’s former managing director Keith Edelman told The Sun there was a more ruthless aspect to the decision.

He said: ‘The reason Thierry moved on was because he was losing his speed. His game was basically all about speed.

‘And if you lose your speed, then you’re dead. So, we got money for him despite the fact that he was on the downward trap.

‘It’s like Kevin De Bruyne. Would you have been better to sell him for more money at the end of last year? Or keep him and risk that he’d keep going this season?’

After initially struggling in Spain, Henry rediscovered his best form during Barcelona’s treble season forming part of a devastating forward line that also comprised the talents of Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o.

Three years after that triumph, Henry returned to Arsenal for an emotional loan spell but found a club and team that was totally unrecognisable from the teams that dominated the Premier League in his prime.

‘Building a team goes in waves,’ said Edleman, referring to the challenge Arsene Wenger faced in the second half of his reign.

‘If you’ve got endless amounts of money, as Manchester City had, you could keep a team going longer.

‘I’d argue there’s probably only 20 world-class players in the whole Premier League, which is a very small number.

‘Therefore, replacing world-class players is very difficult.

‘And therefore, if you win things, you have a lot of world-class players because that’s how you win things. But when they get older, it’s very difficult to replace them.

‘You’ve got to look at how many world-class players you’ve got in your team, and they won’t be world-class forever, they get older and tend to dip.

‘This is what I mean about looking at things strategically.

‘You’ve got to ask the right questions. You’ve got to be probing. I don’t think a lot of people do that.

‘Arsenal were, in the Invincible years, were really lucky because, they had Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell and Gilberto Silva, there’s five world-class players.’

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