The truth behind Arsenal’s decision to sell Thierry Henry finally exposed

After spending eight successful years at Arsenal, becoming the club’s all-time top scorer and captain, the player made the move abroad, following in the footsteps of his former teammates like Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira, who also sought new challenges outside the Premier League.

At 29, the prospect of joining Barcelona—at the time an exciting team under the management of the rising Pep Guardiola—was an offer too enticing to turn down.

For Arsenal, the €24 million fee for a player who had already experienced his peak years was seen as excellent business, especially as the club was still dealing with financial obligations following the construction of the Emirates Stadium.

In an interview with The Sun, Arsenal's former managing director Keith Edelman revealed that the decision was also driven by a more pragmatic, even ruthless, side of the club’s operations.

He said: ‘The reason Thierry moved on was because he was losing his speed. His game was basically all about speed.

‘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?’

After initially struggling in Spain, Henry rediscovered his best form during Barcelona’s treble season forming part of a devastating forward line that also comprised the talents of Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o.

Three years after that triumph, Henry returned to Arsenal for an emotional loan spell but found a club and team that was totally unrecognisable from the teams that dominated the Premier League in his prime.

‘Building a team goes in waves,’ said Edleman, referring to the challenge Arsene Wenger faced in the second half of his reign.

‘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.’

Do you think Arsenal made the right decision selling Thierry Henry at the time, or should they have held on to him for a bit longer?