Over the course of a career, most footballers play for a number of teams. Indeed, very few end up being true one-club players, with the likes of Francesco Totti at Roma and Paolo Maldini at AC Milan being rare examples of this.
Naturally, though, some stars enjoy playing for certain clubs more than others. Every now and then you hear about a player totally regretting a move. Alexis Sanchez famously wanted to quit Manchester United after just one training session, following his transfer from Arsenal in 2018.
That's not always the case, with many footballers enjoying spells across numerous clubs. Even so, they will still have one team they enjoyed playing for more than most. That was certainly the case for Thierry Henry.
Thierry Henry Revealed the Club of His Heart
Henry started his career at Monaco, before earning a move to Juventus. Having struggled in Italy, he joined Arsenal in 1999 and became a club legend under Arsene Wenger. After eight years in England, he moved to Barcelona, won the Champions League, before moving to the US to finish his career with the New York Red Bulls.
Of all those teams, he made the biggest impact with the Gunners, and it's no shock to learn that he felt the most love for the Premier League side. During retirement, he was later asked to name the club of his heart and was adamant with his response:
“Monaco gave me an opportunity…to become what I became. And then obviously they gave me an opportunity as a coach. So I have mad respect for Monaco and that’s always going to be the case.
“But Arsenal is where my heart is. And that will never change.”
He then doubled down on his position, saying the club are his first, second, and third choice as his favourite, when asked whether Monaco or Barcelona would be his “number two” team: “Number two? Arsenal. Three? Arsenal. “In Spain, [it’s] Barcelona. Monaco will always be my team in France. But Arsenal is Arsenal.”
He has also been quoted as saying: "My heart never left Arsenal. I'm an Arsenal fan. If you love Arsenal, you never leave Arsenal; it's always gonna be in your heart. When I had the chance to come back in 2012, I felt connected with the fans again."
Henry Loved Arsenal as if He Was a Fan
Henry had a legendary career and impressed at Barcelona with 49 goals and 28 assists in 121 games, as he won two La Liga titles, the Champions League, the Club World Cup, and the Copa del Rey with the Spanish giants. But his best years were undoubtedly spent in north London.
At Arsenal, he was the true star of the show as he became the club's record goal scorer with 228 strikes in 377 games, not to mention a further 107 assists. He also fired the Gunners to two Premier League titles, one as an Invincible, and two FA Cups.
Later on in his career, while still with the Red Bulls, he even briefly returned to north London for a short loan spell in 2012, famously scoring a winner against Leeds United. He spoke about how much that goal meant to him, as it was the first he scored for Arsenal as a fan, explaining:
“My favourite goal is the Leeds goal, and people will say, ‘What?' First round of the [FA] Cup, Leeds are in the Championship. But it was the first time I scored a goal for my club, as a fan. They wanted to see me again, and I wanted to see them again. “Everybody went to the stadium for that, people even watched the game for that and, for the first time, I felt like I was with the fans."
To this day, many regard Henry as the greatest Premier League player of all time. He is certainly the best to ever represent the Gunners.