Speculation over the future of
Thierry Henry will intensify after he slammed the exit of vice
chairman David Dein, saying it 'wasn't a clever move' and he was
'devastated', while admitting he is flattered to be linked with a
move to the likes of AC Milan.
In an exclusive interview with ESPNSoccernet Press Pass, the
Arsenal skipper discussed his future at the Emirates amid talk of a
move and bemoaned the loss of a man who, in tandem with manager
Arsene Wenger, had been central to the Gunners success.
Dein left Arsenal earlier this year due to unreconcilable
differences with the rest of the board, believed to surround the
proposed investment from American businessman Stan Kroenke.
Henry was in no doubt about the effect of Dein's departure when
pressed on his future following recent newspaper stories in which
Carlo Ancelotti confirmed his interest.
Henry told the website: 'It's great to hear [being linked to AC
Milan]. How can you not think that? On the other side as I said to
you, and so many times at the moment, I'm an Arsenal player.
'Everybody knows that a lot of stuff happened at the club recently
that wasn't supposed to happen. In terms of the departure of Mr
Dein, the bosses have been unsettled and a lot of players have been
unsettled in the club. So the only thing I can tell you is right
now I'm an Arsenal player but hearing that is nice to hear, I can't
deny it.
The Gunners' record goalscorer did not hide his disappointment at
Dein's exit. He said: 'I was devastated. Everybody who knows Mr
Dein, we know that the guy loves football. He knew everybody at the
stadium, the name of everybody and I mean everybody at the club,
whether you play for the youth team or you clean the dressing room
- he knew everybody.
'He's the type of guy who used to turn up raining, snowing, windy,
to watch the under-17s, the under-19s, the reserves - everybody -
on his own at the training ground and one person that I wouldn't
have liked to leave the board, would have been Mr Dein.
'But it's out of my hands, I'm not up there. I don't know what
happened, and I don't want to know what happened.'
Henry's respect for Dein was further underlined by his opinion that
he, with Wenger, has made Arsenal the club it is today.
'What I'm saying to you is that Arsene and Mr Dein, although no one
is bigger than the club, are really close to being Arsenal,' Henry
added in his interview with ESPNSoccernet Press Pass. ' If you ask
me, they're the two people for me who come really close to ever one
day saying it.
'But I would like to say that whatever happened, Mr Dein leaving
wasn't a clever move.
'So far I'm here, talking to you, about a thing that happened that
I didn't agree with but sometimes that's just the way it is. It
happened, and we have to move on.'
Despite Henry's future in north London being in doubt, he sees the
signs of recovery for an Arsenal side which has been off the pace
in the Premiership in recent seasons.
'The potential is definitely there,' he told the website. 'The
signs are definitely there. So now let's hope we can put that all
together and bring back some silverware. Man United didn't win the
league for three years and finally they did it - who would have
said that 10 years ago? So things happen sometimes, you have to
keep going and make sure you can be better and have a great season
next season.'
Henry also admitted that the move to the Emirates made it difficult
to compete: 'At the end of the day, everybody knows all of our
resources went into building the new stadium. Therefore, you have
to deal with what you have. So that's why I would like to give
credit to some of the youngsters. Maybe if we don't have a new
stadium, we would have done better and maybe have more players, I
don't know.
'Sometimes you can't invent something that you don't have or create
something that you don't have, so you have to deal with what you
have. We're still playing good football, ok, not winning anything
at the moment but you know, you have to give us that at
least.'