Monegasque football club AS Monaco which competes in French Ligue 1 has appointed Arsenal legend Thierry Daniel Henry as their new head coach. The 41-year-old former French striker took up his new job just 2 days after Leonardo Jardim was sacked following a poor start to the season. Monaco is currently 18th in Ligue 1 with just one win from their opening nine games.
Henry will take up his new role from October 15. He will be joined by Joao Carlos Valado Tralhao, U23 coach of Benfica, and Patrick Kwame Ampadu, coach at the Arsenal Academy. This is Henry's first foray into management and he will soon leave from the role of second assistant coach of the Belgium national team under Roberto Martinez.
The new role as manager of AS Monaco is a homecoming for Henry as he started professional football career with them in 1994. After a long spell of five years, Henry moved to Juventus and then to Arsenal where he became a Gunners' legend.
"In the first place, I thank AS Monaco for giving me the opportunity to coach the team of this club which is so special to me. I am very happy to come back to AS Monaco and extremely determined to meet the challenges ahead. I cannot wait to meet the players to start working together," said Thierry Henry.
Former footballer, Thierry Henry looks on during the NBA match between Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets at the O2 Arena on January 12, 2017Dan Mullan/Getty Images
Part of France's world champion squad of FIFA 1998 world cup, 1997 French Champion with AS Monaco, winner of Euro 2000, double champion of England (2002, 2004), winner of the Champions League (2009) and double champion of Spain (2009, 2010), Thierry Henry takes up Monaco managerial job after a stellar career marked by stints at Arsenal, Barcelona, the New York Red Bulls and more recently in the Belgian National Team.
Prior to the Monaco job, Henry was linked with the Aston Villa job following Steve Bruce's exit last week. Aston Villa eventually appointed Dean Smith. There were also rumours that Henry may take up manager post at Bordeaux.
