‘’I eat football, I sleep football, I breathe football. I’m not mad, I’m just passionate.’’ This quote by the legend Thierry Henry perfectly summarizes the Frenchman’s love for football. The Arsenal legend was one player that could change the course of a game solely using his technique and skill. The Premier League is yet to see a better striker and arguably a better player. Born 17 August 1977, Thierry Daniel Henry is a French professional football coach and former player who is currently the manager of Major League Soccer club Montreal Impact. Here are 11 things you did not know about him.

1. His Background and childhood.
Henry was born in the mystery suburbs of Paris; mystery because it produced a ton of World Class players throughout the years. However, being a child of immigrants from the Caribbean and living among other immigrants often meant a tough life for Henry in his younger days. There it was lucky to have Antwan Henry has his father. He constantly pushed his son towards sports in order to make him avoid street life, which was common in those areas.

2. Henry’s introduction to football.
Father and Son often went to football matches. Henry fell in love immediately instead of playing football himself, and it was obvious right from the get go, that he was pretty talented just seven years of age. He went on to dominated in the youth rank suppressing year after year. He was pretty lucky to because Monaco’s manager at the time was Arsene Wenger, a coach famous for his introduction of youngsters into the first team. This is why Thierry Henry received a senior debut with Monaco in 1994, when he was just 17. The youngster from the Parisian suburbs in a tough uprising had all the confidence in the world by that, and after playing a couple of excellent seasons, he was named the French young Footballer of the Year. However, Henry wasn’t just a successful individual, because he guided Monaco towards the League winning titles in 1996/97, playing almost every league match and scoring nine goals. The success kept coming for Monaco and Henry even in the following year, where the team reached the Champions League semies with the French talent being one of the main players in the squad. He went on and later joined Arsenal and later FC Barcelona.

3. Thierry Henry finished his career with 284 goals to his name.
Henry is the leading all-time scorer both for Arsenal (with 284 goals in all competitions) and for his national team, France (with 51 goals). Overall he has won 19 club trophies as well as the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championship. So when they asked you how good was Thierry Henry actually, you tell them he was one of the best strikers of all time and an inspiration for a generation of French footballers ruling the world today.

4. His Bronze Statue.
There is a bronze statue of Henry outside the Emirates Stadium that was unveiled as part of Arsenal’s 125th anniversary celebrations.

5. His contribution to Charity.
He has been subjected of racism in his career and is an active spokesperson against racism in football. He also does a lot of social work and has been associated with organizations like the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, UNICEF and Elton John AIDS Foundation. The former striker even has his own charity called The One 4 All Foundation, which helps combat racism and provides support to underprivileged children.

6. He is a Foodie.
Many footballers are on strict diets to go with their fitness regimes. Henry was no different, but was known to indulge

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