Henry reveals when Arsenal boss Wenger said he was ‘wasting time’ at Juventus

Thierry Henry reveals the moment former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger changed his career by telling him he was ‘wasting my time’ in the wrong Juventus role.

Turning 47 later this month and currently the coach of the France squad at the Olympic Games in Paris, his life took a huge swerve in the summer of 1999.

Speaking to the official Arsenal website, he looked back on the curious coincidence that made him move to the Gunners after just six months in Turin.

Henry on how Juventus got it all wrong

“A few years after Arsène left Monaco, he came to watch a game between Juventus and Udinese that I played in. After the match, I was going back to Paris and he was on the same plane,” said Henry.

“He told me he’d been at the game. We exchanged numbers and he told me that he didn’t understand why I was playing on the wing. At the time, I was actually playing as a wing-back!

“He told me I was wasting my time and that he remembered me as a No. 9. He said it would be great if we could meet him again, and the rest is history.”

Thanks to that flight, Henry made the transfer to Arsenal for what now would translate to €16.1m, a little over the €12.5m that Juventus had spent to sign him from AS Monaco six months earlier.

He went on to score 228 goals and provide 97 assists in 377 games for the Gunners.

His role at Juve was that of a left wing-back, yet he was still able to find the net three times with two assists in 20 competitive appearances for the Bianconeri.