Thierry Henry has left his coaching role with Arsenal after Arsene Wenger out his foot down over his media work with Sky Sports.
Gunners’ legend Henry was working as a youth coach with the club as part of his UEFA A Licence course. However, his lucrative punditry work with Sky bothered Wenger who ultimately told his former star to choose one or the other.
On parting ways with Arsenal, the 38-year-old Henry said via his Twitter account:
I would like to thank Andries Jonker for offering me the chance to coach the U18’s @arsenal, which I was honoured to accept. However …/ctd
— Thierry Henry (@ThierryHenry) July 12, 2016
/ctd… I respect Arsène Wenger’s decision and I want to wish their manager Kwame Ampadu, the boys and …/ctd
— Thierry Henry (@ThierryHenry) July 12, 2016
/ctd… everyone at the club all the best for the forthcoming season.
— Thierry Henry (@ThierryHenry) July 12, 2016
Another Gunners’ legend, Tony Adams, is now expected to take on the vacant role of assisting under-18s coach Kwame Ampadu at the club.
Coming in the wake of Mikel Arteta’s decision to take up a coaching role with Manchester City, a club which also snapped up Patrick Vieira at the end of his playing career, Arsenal fans will no doubt be disappointed that another ex-player has left the club before developing his coaching skills.
Indeed, many will also point to Wenger’s own regular punditry gigs with French television. However, Wenger’s media jobs have only covered international games, while Henry’s Sky analysis last season of Arsenal (and Olivier Giroud in particular) was sometimes negative, which adds logic to Wenger’s decision to give his former star an ultimatum.
Henry will now look elsewhere to complete his coaching badges, alongside continuing his work with Sky.