Thierry Henry talks about his ‘big brother’ teammate from France, his biggest inspiration, and the discipline that shapes who he is.
Thierry Henry shared how a teammate and a little-known coach taught him the most about football during his career, in a chat with SPORTbible.
Henry, 48, is one of the Premier League’s best-ever forwards, scoring 228 goals and making 107 assists for Arsenal. He helped the team win two Premier League titles and two FA Cups. Along the way, he played with famous players like Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, and Dennis Bergkamp.
He was coached by Arsène Wenger, who changed how players train and recover after joining Arsenal in 1996 from Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan.
In the interview, Henry said Wenger was one of three coaches who shaped his career the most. The others were Pep Guardiola, who coached him at Barcelona, and Joaquim Francisco Filho, who worked on player development at the French Football Federation’s academy, Clairefontaine.
Henry said, “You might not know much about Filho, but he really developed my thinking. If I hadn’t met him when I was 14, I wouldn’t have understood what Arsène was saying. He opened my mind to be ready for Arsène’s ideas. Then later, Pep was a big influence, too. Without Filho, I wouldn’t have understood Arsène or Pep.”
Filho made Henry think about the game in a deeper way by putting limits on him during training. For example, he would stop Henry from using his speed, forcing him to find different ways to beat opponents. Filho also made him practice not passing backwards, so Henry had to change how he positioned himself on the field and think more about the game.
Besides Filho’s guidance on football skills, Henry also spoke about how former France defender Lilian Thuram taught him how to act professionally off the pitch. Henry and Thuram first met at Monaco in the 90s and later played together for France 79 times. They shared Caribbean roots and a strong bond.
Henry recalled, “Lilian was like my big brother. When I joined Monaco, we connected straight away because of our backgrounds. He showed me how to be a footballer and how to behave off the pitch, and that stuck with me. He guided me through my early career and later in the national team.”
Thuram moved to Parma and then Juventus, while Henry went from Monaco to Juventus and then Arsenal. Over ten years after playing together at Monaco, they reunited at Barcelona for the 2007/08 season before Thuram retired.
After talking about his mentors, Henry gave advice to young players. He said the key is what you do when no one is watching—whether you work hard on your own, train extra, and push yourself beyond what’s expected. He stressed that discipline is more important than motivation.
“Discipline is something you do without thinking. For me, it’s better than motivation,” Henry said. He tries to inspire others by living with discipline. Even now, long after retiring, Henry stays fit and healthy.
He shared how going to the gym, sometimes twice a day, isn’t about looks but how it makes him feel. “It gives me peace and clears my mind. If I skip the gym, I get edgy. But with discipline, you just do it every day,” he explained.
Henry also eats well, focusing on salad, fish, and chicken, and once went seven months without sugar. Since retiring, he changed his diet to match his lower activity level to stay balanced.
Henry was speaking to SPORTbible about Clash of Clans, joining other football stars Kaká and Bastian Schweinsteiger in a football-themed campaign. The game also brought back its popular Global Chat feature and launched a football event where players can join a special Clan War League, just in time for football’s biggest prize.