Thierry Henry has revealed that his relationship with Arsene Wenger was much like a father and son, including the shouting and screaming followed by a punishment.
Both men will go down in Arsenal’s folklore after a number of successful years, including the famous Invincibles season of 2004, and it turns out their relationship was not all plain sailing.
Speaking for the A Fresh Perspective with Thierry Henry and Heineken campaign, the former striker said: ‘He was like a father figure for me. So, as you can imagine, with your dad, you argue, you scream, he punishes you.
‘Then, I want to show him the same relationship that you have with a dad: it’s complicated at times, sometimes it’s the best, sometimes we’re best friends, sometimes we’re worst enemies and we argue.
‘But that’s what happens when you love someone. Because you care, that’s why you argue.
‘But I’ll tell you, there are two guys – since we’re mentioning Arsene.
‘Arsene triggered my brain, and every day, it was something about my brain, about asking myself the right questions.
‘And then you have Pep [Guardiola], who tactically triggered my brain.
‘So those two guys had a massive impact on me, but I cannot, obviously, talk about my career without Arsene, because I think one of the most important things in the world, not only in sport, is to trigger the brain of someone, to stimulate the brain of someone every single day.
‘If not, it’s close to dying, if your brain is not functioning properly.’
The manager worked with some of these players for a long time, unlike any of the current managers in the Premier League, and you could understand how such a relationship would form.
Henry spent eight years at the club in his first stint, joining three years into Wenger’s 22-year tenure, and the pair will long be remembered for their amazing work in North London.
Would we have been more shocked if the pair had never had such disagreements?
Patrick
Never heard a former player say a bad word about Wenger ,which you can only admire ,unlike some of the so called Arsenal fans who seem to hold a massive grudge against the most successful manager we have ever seen ,strange that seeing these players were with him daily and saw what he bought to the club .
I know who I would rather listen to .