Thierry Henry recently took over the reigns of the international France U21 team a year from the Olympics which are set to take place in Paris. The Former Arsenal striker spoke to another France legend Bixente Lizarazu about the managers that inspired him, from Arsène Wenger to Pep Guardiola.
Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry spoke to fellow Les Bleus legend Bixente Lizarazu on the mentors which influenced him as a player and now as manager of the France U21 side. Lizarazu gave Henry the seemingly impossible choice of choosing between his two mentors: Arsène Wenger and Pep Guardiola.
"Being a manager is about asking the question: can you make your players more intelligent, understand football a bit better?" began Henry, adding "let's use Pep Guardiola as an example, I thought I was good at football but when I arrived there at Barcelona I just thought, wow, what is he talking about?"
Arsene Wenger opened up his mind, Guardiola opened his eyes
"Arsène Wenger, when I arrived to Arsenal, opened up my spirit and my mind as a continuation of what I learned at the academy at Clairefontaine. Pep Guardiola opened my eyes," said the former Monaco and Montreal Impact manager.
"It was him that made me understand that pressing was good. As an attacker in general, and you know this well, that you don't normally want to do these things. But then I developed a taste for pressing high and appreciate another area of the game".
After opening his managerial tenure with les bleuets in a 4-1 win over Denmark, a double from Elye Wahi and further goals from Lyon pair Rayan Cherki and Johann Lepenant sealing the deal. Henry's side travels to Slovenia in in the group stage of qualifying for the EURO U21 on Monday evening.
