

Arsenal great Thierry Henry has said that the club should have achieved more in the last three seasons under manager Mikel Arteta.
The Spaniard has managed Arsenal since December 2019 and won the FA Cup in his first season at the club. His side has been involved in the Premier League title race in each of the last three seasons, but have finished second on all three occasions.
Arsenal have also failed to reach a tournament final since the FA Cup victory.
Between 1999 and 2007 — and a brief loan spell in 2012 — Henry made 377 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 228 goals and providing 101 assists, winning the league twice and the FA Cup three times. He also finished as the Ballon d’Or runner-up in 2003.
The 47-year-old said that Arteta is doing a “great job” at the club and acknowledged that managers need time to succeed but added that the team has underachieved in the last few seasons.
Advertisement
“I understand that at the very beginning you arrive and it’s not your team,” Henry said on the Stick to Football podcast. “You need at the very least three or four transfer windows to change everything that you want to change.
“You have to give a manager time to be able to implement what he wants to do.
“In the last three years, Arsenal have been in a situation where we should at least win a cup, or (reach) a final.”
Henry referenced Manchester United, who finished 15th in the league this campaign. In the time since Arsenal’s last appearance in a final, United have contested five finals and won the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024.
“I do understand when people ask the question, ‘surely you should compete for a trophy or be in a final?’” he said.
“I’m not saying it’s a disappointment, but it’s normal that people are raising questions now about what the team is doing.”
Henry also said that one of Arsenal’s biggest needs is a striker. Arteta began the season with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus as his centre-forward options only for both players to miss significant time with injury. Leandro Trossard helped fill the role while Mikel Merino often became a makeshift No 9.
The Athletic has reported that Arsenal have varying levels of interest in Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres, Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko.
“He (Arteta) brought players in,” said Henry. “He brought (Raheem) Sterling, when everyone wanted a nine. He had time to get a nine. I’m not the coach, I don’t know how discussions go, but everyone has been screaming for a nine.”
(Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
Be the first to leave a comment