Arsenal boss plays down Aubameyang’s Thierry Henry comparisons

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has compared himself to Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, but Arsene Wenger is refusing to jump the gun with such praise.

The Gabon international moved to the club from Borussia Dortmund last month, and marked his impressive debut with a goal, and will be looking to add to that tally against North London rivals Tottenham this afternoon.

Aubameyang has talked of his admiration for former star striker Thierry Henry, but Arsene Wenger has refused to draw comparisons between his new record signing  and his record goalscorer.

Wenger said: “It is an ambitious statement but it is a good one.

“Henry is the best goalscorer ever in Arsenal’s history, so it doesn’t mean he will score as many goals. But why not?

“He is Thierry Henry with his quality of runs. But it’s a bit too early to compare him to the best player ever who played here.

“He has played one game. But it’s a good example to follow. His finish was brilliant. His finishing is good.

“You don’t score by coincidence for so many years, if you score many goals.”

The Frenchman then played down expectations on his new star, citing a difficulty in translating goalscoring records in other leagues into the English top tier.

He added: “What we have observed is that the transfer nowadays from the goals scored in other leagues, does not necessarily transfer 100 per-cent to the English Premier League.

“When we played at Swansea, we played against 10 men in the last 25 yards and that doesn’t exist anywhere in Europe. To be as prolific in the Premier League is today much more difficult.”

Could Aubameyang prove to be our new Henry? Does the 28 year-old have the ability to take the Premier League by storm?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Aubameyang Thierry Henry

7 Comments

  1. Apart from their facial and stature similarities, they have similar style:

    youtube.com/watch?v=icwUOzVF1j8

    Henry had a great understanding with Bergkamp and Aubameyang has a great connection with Mkhitaryan:

    youtube.com/watch?v=UWfvzwZAuXg

  2. As long as he scores goals thats what matters.

    Henry was a legend. Amazing player. Not just a striker. He could create goals out of nothing

    But Henry had something Aubameyang doesn’t. ….a great squad ie Bergkamp, Pieres, Lungberg, Viera, Lauren, Cole, Adams, Campbell, Toure, Parlour, Keown etc etc.

    Henry was amazing but we would not have won the trophies without the complete squad. Something Wenger has totally forgotten
    We are missing the Quality defense and
    We are missing our Viera type player

    This is the most intriguingly mind boggling thing. Why doesn’t Wenger understand what won us the trophies? Why doesn’t he appreciate what Viera did for us? Why does he not understand how important the defensive midfielder is? We never really replaced Viera with the same quality. He doesn’t even need to be a DM specialist. Just Box to Box player with strong defensive skills. The Premier League Champions since Wenger has been here have had these central midfielders with strong defensive skills: Viera, Keane, Scholes, Mekelele, Essien, Carrick, YaYa Toure, Matic, Kante (with both Leicester and Chelsea), Fernandino.

    1. Vieira was currently replaced by two players that can play as box-to-box midfielder, Ramsey and Wilshere. They are not as good as the peak Vieira physically, but in my opinion they are decent.

      But Gilberto and Parlour were only replaced by DMs like Xhaka, Elneny, Coquelin, Song, etc. Arsenal do not have a great DM specialist like Makalele, Busquets, Mascherano and Fernandinho yet, so hopefully Xhaka can improve his game.

      DM should have high anticipation, aggresion and excellent passing skill (to minimize misplaced passes). If possible, he must also have a good vision, so he can help to build the attack from the back, like Busquets and Mascherano.

      1. Vieira and Henry pushed us from a very good team into an excellent or great great side. It’s hard to say which one of those two made the biggest impact, me I’d say Henry but my Dad he would say, very convincingly ..Vieira.

        Wenger of course deserved massive respect at that time, he was at that time the one true diamond eye.

  3. Reading Mkhitaryan today about differences between Mourinho and Wenger was interesting. You got the sense that Mkhit already feels like he can relax and enjoy things more under Wenger, and at same time Alexis sounds tailor made for Mourinho. I’d like to think that they’re making it easy for Mkhit because he’s just joined but I think we know it goes deeper than that. Hopefully there will be more pressure above due to the large spend on wages these days as well as Lehman Per and other coaches chiming in when things get too relaxed around the ground.

  4. It is far too early to estimate what Aubameyang will achieve. Maybe this time next year will be a better point from which to assess his impact and potential. Mkhitaryan actually appears to talk sense, if the recent quotes are true, which makes a change from some of the rubbish a lot of players are reputed to say.
    I think Wenger will be moved up or sideways by ‘mutual agreement’ in the summer with a new man coming in to run the team. Lacazette will go to Athletico, Griezemann will go somewhere but probably not to Arsenal and we will sign a couple of defenders.

  5. Long way to go yet. Agree with the points made above about the overall quality of the team Henri played in. Thierry Henri and his predecessor Ian Wright both stated Dennis Bergkamp was the best player they played with. All bought in by David Dein. Wenger has never replaced Viera, but more importantly Gilberto.
    Arsenal needs more hard, physically imposing players to be feared again!

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