Thierry Henry: “with Hazard I asked myself: what on earth is he doing?”

Thierry Henry, as well as being a French football legend, is considered an off-field expert in terms of the way in which he imparts knowledge as a pundit and commentator. In September, the ex-Arsenal forward was selected as the France u-21 manager, putting him in charge of winning Gold in the Paris Olympic Games.

In an interview with L’Équipe, the manager analysed various topics and also recognised which player had most impressed him in recent times.

“My favourite player of the last few years is Eden Hazard”, said Henry. “It was just... ‘wow’, and he’s such an instinctive player! The only thing you have to do is give him guidance in the zones where he will receive the ball and then he’ll be able to express himself. In the structure, he does what he wants. How many times have I sat on the bench and thought ‘what on earth is he doing? Oh! Amazing!’ Even I’ve scored goals when I’ve heard my manager shout not to shoot. So you can give instructions, but you can’t control instinct”.

‘It’s hard to clip the wings of an instinctive player’

Asked about whether players lose their instincts after receiving instructions from the manager, Henry, who also recently opened up on mental health, gave the example of Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid: “It’s not about French players, but instinctive players. It’s hard to clip the wings of an instinctive player. You have to let them express themselves with their instinct, but all while maintaining the structure.”

“Why does Jude Bellingham express himself well at Madrid?” he continued. “Because the structure allows for it to happen. Three midfielders give him stability behind and the attackers that he has ahead of him make runs to open the space, giving him time to run with the ball”.

‘Before the 2009 UCL final I couldn’t run, I couldn’t do anything’

The French legend also spoke about the 2009 Champions League final, when Barcelona overcame Manchester United. Before the game henry was suffering with pain that impeded him from running: “The structure, what you asked me about, should be a plan that lets everyone express themselves. I’ll give you an example: in the 2009 Champions League final, I was injured and couldn’t run. Iniesta was also injured. All of our defenders were suspended. When I went to bed the night before, I knew I wasn’t OK, I knew I couldn’t do anything individually. But I also knew we could work together as a team. So I went to bed calmly, although I couldn’t sprint”, he said.

As expected, L’Équipe asked Henry if he had spoken to Kylian Mbappé about going to the 2024 Olympics. The former Barcelona winger said that he “hadn’t spoken to him”, but made sure to say that “as everyone knows, I understand that he’d love to be at the Paris Olympic Games”. However, it is not a decision of the French Football Federation, but also PSG, who have a right to retain the player given it is not an official FIFA date.