On Sunday, June 24, I flew up to Edinburgh with my brother, just before Thierry Henry was due to have his medical at Barcelona. I neeed a break and Neil was over from Colorado for two weeks.
Coming back to London, after five days without seeing the internet or Sky Sports, and without seeing any newspapers except Monday’s Guardian, I found friends saying, “Nothing’s happened. You haven’t missed a thing.Wenger’s on holiday.”
I’d expected Henry to pass his medical but wondered about his achilles, his hamstrings, his back, his sciatic nerve. It has been whispered that he might have a chronic back or groin condition, and I always wonder about that, partly because I have a mild groin condition that needs maintenance. Judith, my lovely osteopath, calls it “referred pain from your back.”
In Spain, Henry will still wear the number 14.
When Johann Cruyff left Barcelona as a player in 1978, the club retired his No. 14 shirt. No player has worn the No.14 since ’78 but because Henry has said that Cruyff was his idol, Barcelona have now given him the maestro’s No.14 shirt.
Club doctor Ricard Pruna said Henry had passed all the tests satisfactorily.
“We paid particular attention to the groin area because we are aware of the problems he has had there. We believe it is due to an imbalance in the muscle groups in the area.
“He will undergo a special programme in Paris to redress the imbalance in the area so that he can join up with the rest of the team on July 21.In theory, given what we have seen today, and if he completes the programme properly and continues it when he comes to the club, there should be no problems.”
So there you have it : TH14 keeps his Arsenal number, and President Laporta reveals that Cruyff, when he was Barcelona coach for eight years, tried to sign Henry when he was a teenager.
Having said all that, this move will be a reality check for Henry.
In a wholly different way, it might be as big a reality check as joining Manchester City was for David Seaman.
Henry won’t be captain and he won’t be the main man. He won’t be playing in a team built round him. If he has a bad game, he could be dropped. If he’s not doing it, Rijkaard will take him off. If Henry tries to dribble round the keeper, as he did against Valencia (when he should have slipped it past Molina’s legs for 3-1) and loses the ball to the right back, Rijkaard won’t come in and tell reporters : It was my fault, I always encourage him to dribble round the goalkeeper. He won’t be protected 24/7 by a tolerant, loyal, generous mentor.
So it will be interesting to see where Thierry plays, and how he adapts to the other players, how they adapt to him. If Ronaldinho isn’t sold to AC Milan, where will Henry play?
Maybe he has made a mistake by leaving Arsenal. Or maybe Barcelona made a mistake.We shall see what happens in the next six months.
Henry might reprise a few of his greatest hits for a year or two at the Nou Camp. Playing for Arsenal, it was mostly music but Barcelona could be cabaret.
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I’ve always said ANR has knowledgeable readers and this letter proves it .
Thanks, Max.
Dear Myles,
I don’t think I’ll be the only one to point out to you that Cruyff never wore the number 14 shirt at Barcelona (only for Ajax and the Dutch national team).
He wore the number 9 for Barca throughout.
Ajax, however, did retire the number 14 shirt, in hommage to Cruyff. This was, however, done in April 2007, not 1978.
Warm regards,
Max