Va Va Voom Henry hungrier than ever....

[K|D]

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Football mods feel free to move this to the appropriate thread...


HUNGRY HENRY BACK FOR MORE
By Jim van Wijk, PA Sport

If you return stronger from the depths of the most bitter of defeats, then defenders beware - because Thierry Henry is back and hungrier than ever.

The brilliant Arsenal and France striker helped drag both club and country into the biggest games either could hope to play. And twice in the space of as many months, he was to suffer the agony of coming so near, yet so far.

However, Henry, who turns 29 on August 17, feels despite a summer of deep disappointment, there are positives which can be taken out from such moments of heartache.

"We went to the final of the Champions League and the final of the World Cup - twice nobody thought we were able to do that," the Gunners skipper declared.

"Obviously losing the final is cruel - but nobody was seeing us there and nobody was seeing me there. So there is somewhere in my mind where I feel proud.

"Over the years people were saying I could take my team somewhere - and I did that in the two most important competitions in the world."

Henry's inspirational leadership and crucial goals helped Arsene Wenger's young side reach a first European Cup final last season, and also secure another crack at the Champions League with a fourth-place finish in the Barclays Premiership.

It was the manner of their spirited 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in Paris on a damp May evening, when the Gunners led for much of the match despite having goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sent off, which helped persuade Henry to extend his contract with the north-London club.

Arsenal will begin a new era this season at the 60,000 all-seater Emirates Stadium and there can be no better place for Henry to display his world-class talents for what Wenger expects will be his golden years.

"That game reassured me of one thing I wanted to know - how far I can go with that team. I believe this season has created a special bond inside the team and there is much more to come," Henry reflected.

"It has been amazing since I joined, there had been so much speculation about me leaving - I will not lie, it crossed my mind. But I think with my heart and it told me to stay.

"I just want to carry on writing the story of Arsenal with Arsene Wenger and [vice-chairman] David Dein."

Henry insisted: "This is the best country to play football and this is my last contract.

"It is not always about money, whether you stay or leave. In any walk of life it is the same.

"For me it was my family, my love for the club and this passion in England that I do not think I will find elsewhere."

While defenders up and down the country will be cursing their luck Henry did not call time on his Arsenal career as the bulldozers moved in on Highbury, Wenger will no doubt allow himself a wry smile when again plotting the Gunners resurgence into title challengers with his talisman at the centre of the team.

"I believe the next two years will be his best - where he has the physical quality and the experience. You see that already in him now," Wenger said of his fellow Frenchman, who last season broke Arsenal's all-time scoring record.

"Players can have one good year - but if you look at the way we have progressed year by year, I feel he is a special player."

The Arsenal manager declared: "Certainly for me, he is the best striker in the world today.

"It looks being captain this past year has given him another dimension in that he has grown in stature as a player and has matured a lot with a sensible attitude on the pitch.

"As a striker you have so much responsibility that you feel you have to score and for him to be conscious that there are other problems in the team was very big in his development.

"Thierry was under a lot of pressure because of the signature on his new contract. It has not stopped him from playing well.

"He scored some outstanding goals maybe better goals than ever."

Wenger observed: "He is a role model for every striker.

"Many times you know people get in the newspapers for the wrong headlines. In his case I feel that this is a reward for a very clean life - unfortunately you get more of the headlines when you go out at 3 o'clock in the morning and you are drunk."

And before this season is up, you can bet there will again be plenty of column inches dedicated to the brilliant footballing skills of one Thierry Henry.

Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein claimed the club turned down two bids of £50 million "from Spanish clubs" for Thierry Henry before the signing of the new contract. If either of these bids had been accepted it would have made Henry the most expensive player in the world - breaking the previous transfer record of £47million paid by Spanish side Real Madrid for Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

[gun-ob]

Thiery Henry, superb striker!!!