From Ligue 1 to world star: Thierry Henry

It all began in a concrete jungle. Raised in the Banlieue suburb of Paris, Thierry Henry honed his skills on the hard surfaces beneath the high-rise tower blocks of his hometown Les Ulis.

The urban centre of his upbringing offered no sprawling fields of green upon which to show off his searing pace with the old kick-and-run that could so easily have seen him race away from any would-be marker.

Henry would grow up on the solid cement and skin-scraping AstroTurf, in reduced spaces which demanded he learn to manipulate it more intricately.

And from a very early age, it was clear to see he had that little bit more than his contemporaries. “The moment my father took me in his arms at the hospital he said, ‘This boy will be a star footballer’,” Henry later recalled. 

It proved more than just patriarchal pride. At 13-years-old, Henry was plucked from his town of some 26,000 inhabitants and whisked away to the illustrious Clairefontaine academy. Four years later, on 31 August 1994, he could make his Ligue 1 bow, for Arsene Wenger’s Monaco versus Nice.

"We made Thierry start at the age of 17 and he became the exceptional football player that we all know and the person he is today,” Wenger told the official Arsenal website.

But it would be a steep learning curve. Henry was a long way from home. Ligue 1 was no playground, and the teenager quickly found himself on the wrong end of a few dressing downs from some of the more illustrious senior pros, including the great Brazil striker Sonny Anderson.

"I got it, and I told myself, 'Next time I come on I have to do something. Set up a goal, or score a goal, create some danger,” Henry told beIN Sports. “I can't just come on thinking, 'Oh isn't this nice to play a bit of football'."

At the time, Henry was still a wide-man, a flying winger who had yet to develop his insatiable appetite for goals. It took him eight months to find the net in Ligue 1 for the first time.

"That was my problem," he admitted. "I was beating people with my speed, dribbling, my power – whatever – then I saw the goalkeeper and thought, 'I'll shoot to the right – oh no, maybe I'll dribble round him'. Then before you know it the goalkeeper's got the ball.”

He was still some way from the record goalscorer he would later become, but, named Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year in 1996, the following season Henry became more decisive, hitting nine goals as Monaco claimed the Ligue 1 title.

The potential was there for all to see and he caught the attention of France coach Aime Jacquet, who made a late decision to include some of the nation’s youngest stars in his squad for a home World Cup. 

Henry finished the tournament as France’s top scorer as Les Bleus, on home soil, claimed their first ever world title.

The secret was out. Europe’s biggest clubs came calling and Henry headed for Italy, joining up with Zinedine Zidane at Juventus, having hit just 28 goals in 141 matches for Monaco.

His time in Italy would prove frustrating, however, as he struggled to break into a side littered with attacking talent. But then came familiar face who would transform his career.

In the summer of 1999, now Arsenal manager, Wenger, was looking for a striker to complement Dennis Bergkamp. He travelled to see Henry play in a UEFA Cup qualifier and was surprised to see the France international being used as a left wing-back. 

Wenger accompanied Henry on a journey back to Paris that night, and told him he wanted him to come to Arsenal as a centre-forward. “But I don’t score goals, boss,” Henry replied. “I don’t care,” said Wenger. “Just try.”

Henry flourished in his new position. He hit 26 goals in his first season in London and would go on to become a Premier League legend, racking up a phenomenal 175 goals in England’s top flight.

He won two league championships, including the famous ‘invincible’ 2003-04 season when the Gunners went the entire campaign unbeaten, and he also claimed two FA Cups.

A European Championship winner in 2000, the UEFA Champions League was the only title to evade him, and he remedied that by joining Barcelona after eight years in England.

It may have been a relatively slow start for the boy from Les Ulis but, once out of the traps, Henry wasted little time cementing his status as a concrete Ligue 1 legend.