Arsenal sold club captain Thierry Henry to Barcelona for just £16million in 2007 and former managing director Keith Edelman has explained why the Gunners decided to let him go
Former Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman has revealed why the club sold Thierry Henry to Barcelona in 2007. Henry was Arsenal captain at the time and had scored 30+ goals across all competitions in five out of the last six seasons.
He had endured an injury-hit campaign the previous year, but went on to enjoy three more successful years at Barcelona where he scored 49 goals in 121 games and helped the Spanish giants win two LaLiga titles and the Champions League.
Arsenal received a fee of just £16million for Henry, but Edelman has revealed the Gunners felt the time was right to cash in on the France international due to concerns that he was “on the downward trap”.
Speaking to the Sun, Edelman revealed: “The reason Thierry moved on was because he was losing his speed. His game was basically all about speed.
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“And if you lose your speed, then you’re dead. So, we got money for him despite the fact that he was on the downward trap.
“It’s like Kevin De Bruyne. Would you have been better to sell him for more money at the end of last year? Or keep him and risk that he’d keep going this season?”
Following Henry’s departure, Arsenal failed to win another major trophy until they won the FA Cup in 2014 as the club’s more established stars left and they struggled to replace them. “Building a team goes in waves,” Edelman explained.
“If you’ve got endless amounts of money, as Manchester City had, you could keep a team going longer. I’d argue there’s probably only 20 world-class players in the whole Premier League, which is a very small number.
“Therefore, replacing world-class players is very difficult. And therefore, if you win things, you have a lot of world-class players because that’s how you win things.
“But when they get older, it’s very difficult to replace them. You’ve got to look at how many world-class players you’ve got in your team, and they won’t be world-class forever, they get older and tend to dip.
“This is what I mean about looking at things strategically. You’ve got to ask the right questions. You’ve got to be probing. I don’t think a lot of people do that.
“Arsenal were, in the Invincible years, were really lucky because, they had Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell and Gilberto Silva, there’s five world-class players.”
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