Arsene Wenger has revealed he originally intended to pair Thierry Henry with Nicolas Anelka at Arsenal.
Both Frenchmen joined the Gunners in the early years of Wenger’s time at the Emirates.
However, Henry’s arrival was just after Anelka had controversially left the club.
Considering how successful Henry eventually became at the club and the undeniable talents Anelka had, some fans have wondered what would have been if both players played on the same team.
Arsenal legend, Ian Wright, had the chance to speak to Wenger recently and asked the Frenchman if he had planned to field both players together.
Here is how the conversation went:
“You know what I wanted to ask you, because it was something that I was always really quite disappointed it never happened – with Anelka and Henry,” Wright said on the Wrighty’s House podcast.
“Did you always have Henry to come there, because Anelka just left us, was your plan to have those two together?”
“Yeah,” Wenger responded.
Wright: “Would Anelka have played nine then, and Henry have stuck there [out wide]?”
Wenger: “Yeah, exactly that!”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Henry and Anelka were two of the most talented French forwards at the time and it would have been exciting to watch them lead the Arsenal attack.
Regardless, Arsenal got the most stable of both players, with Henry breaking the goal-scoring record at the Emirates.
Anelka would have a journeyman career and lasted just a season at Real Madrid, where he had moved from Arsenal to.
Later in his career, he starred for Manchester City and Chelsea in the Premier League.
As an individual player, he never really had a glittering career as Henry had, and Arsenal probably sold him at the perfect time.
Yeah Anelka was a talent in his early years at Arsenal, but he got to big for his boots and once Henry arrived there is no way that the two of them could have played together, cause he would have thought that he was the star attraction, so we definitely got rid of him at the time, as we all know what a top draw Henry became for our club and will go down in Arsenal History forever!!!!!!!!! ⚽⚽⚽⚽🥅🥅🥅🥅🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🎗️🎗️🎗️❤️❤️
Arsenal had to sell him, because he made it perfectly clear he wanted out.
His brother, his agent, was the instigator of all his moves I believe and made a fortune for himself while doing it.
Anelka could have been as good as Henry, he certainly had the attributes.
Yet another Arsene find, that because of financial reasons, that the club never realised his full potential… and neither did the player achieve his full potential, in my opinion.