Thierry Henry says he will never play for a Spanish team after
deciding against pushing for a move to Barcelona.
The Arsenal captain has agreed a new four-year contract after
confessing he thought long and hard about heading for La Liga, and
Barcelona in particular.
It was the joy he gets from playing in England that helped convince
the Frenchman to remain in London.
"Obviously, when you have this kind of team, you're mentioning
Barcelona, wanting you, I was kind of maybe thinking about it," he
said on Sky Sports News. "But my heart belongs here.
"If I can say, I'm an honest guy, that would have been the team
[Barcelona]. Maybe yes, if I had left I would have gone for them
but I said I'm here, that's all I know.
"I have to say I usually don't listen to this kind of thing [the
press writing that The Premiership needs players like Henry] but
when I hear this kind of stuff, I can't just not take them into
consideration, to be honest.
"I don't know where you can have that other than England.
"I'm pretty sorry I've never played in Spain and never will. I
played in Italy and in France and can tell you, for sure, it's
[England] the best country to play football. Sometimes it's not
easy to take some of the stuff you are writing but it's still the
best country to play football.
"That's my last contract. I said to you it's where I belong, where
my heart is, so I stop.
"Just look at everything, the passion. I watch the games on TV
every weekend. If it's not Juventus, Real Madrid or Barcelona, the
stadium is not full. In France, surely it's not full if it's not
Lyon, Marseille or Paris [Saint Germain].
"I enjoy playing away from home here. Even getting stick if it's
the right kind, I just enjoy it. I like the passion.
"The people here respect the players and I feel it.
"They understand maybe on the day the other team is better and they
respect football. You won't see that a lot in some of the other
leagues."
Henry hit back at questions suggesting did he fear following
Patrick Vieria out of the club and not enjoying the same success or
that his decision to stay showed a lack of ambition.
"Patrick's just won the league so, for me, he's been successful,"
blasted the ex-Juventus man. "Sylvain Wiltord has left and been
successful.
"It's got nothing to do with people who have left or stayed. My
decision is what I wanted to do to give to my fans and the club,
where my heart was. I didn't look at Patrick leaving or whoever.
It's their life and I respect it.
"If winning the league, staying unbeaten, winning the cups, being
in the Champions League final for the first time, if staying at a
club like that is lacking ambition then I invite everyone to come
here."
