Thierry Henry reveals he knew his career was over after heartbreaking moment with his daughter in New York
THIERRY HENRY knew his career was over after a heartbreaking moment with his daughter.
The former Arsenal forward hung up his boots in 2015 at the age of 37.
He has now revealed that a long-term Achilles problem contributed to his decision to retire.
Henry explained he knew his career was over after an incident with his daughter whilst playing for the New York Red Bulls.
Appearing on The Diary Of A CEO podcast with Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett, he recalled the exact moment he realised it was time to hang up his boots.
The Frenchman admitted: “Yeah there was a day, and you might laugh. But my daughter was at home in New York.
“I suffered from an Achilles problem for more than 10 years both sides. I was in pain every morning, really, pain, the pain was never going away all day, both sides, both of my Achilles.
“Sometimes, I felt a bit better, sometimes not but every morning, I was in pain, afternoon, night, for 10 years.”
Henry continued: “So I’m at home with my daughter and she comes close to me, touches me and goes ‘you’re it,’ and she ran.
“I wanted to run, I couldn’t. I wanted to run but I couldn’t. I looked at her and said ‘Hey you won’. I couldn’t chase her.
“I stopped and went ‘What are you doing?’ Like, I just couldn’t, I’m not even joking Steven, she ran and I just couldn’t move. That’s when I knew, I couldn’t handle pain anymore.
“This is what it is, forget about anything you can think of. You need to love pain to be an athlete.
“And I know no pain no these whatever, no, this is real, you need to love pain. If not, stay where you are.”
As for how he felt after retiring, Henry added: “I was in a way happy because I stopped.
“People stopped because of injuries, some people stopped because of different stuff, I stopped, it was on my terms, I stopped. I knew I could still play, but I stopped.”
The 46-year-old’s club career included spells with Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal, Barcelona and New York Red Bulls.
He retired with 360 goals and 177 assists in 794 club appearances, as well as winning league titles in France, England and Spain.
Henry was also part of the Barcelona side which won the Champions League in 2009.
For France, he scored 51 times in 123 caps, winning both the World Cup and Euros with Les Bleus.
Since retiring, Henry has turned to punditry and coaching, serving as France’s under-21s boss since August.