Thierry Henry says Harry Kane will ‘smash’ Alan Shearer’s Premier League goals record
Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry sat down for an exclusive interview with UMM for the latest episode of their series ‘Assumptions’ – where some of the biggest names in football answer the questions fans have always wanted to ask.
Henry spoke about his admiration for Kylian Mbappe, his thoughts on Karim Benzema returning to the French national team, the potential for a ‘The Last Dance’ style Arsenal documentary, and his belief Harry Kane will ‘smash’ Alan Shearer’s Premier League goals record:
On Kylian Mbappe…
“I don’t like to compare players and different eras. He’s the king of his own kingdom. I had my time, he’s having his time. All I’m happy about is he’s French. He’s a great player.”
“What I could do and what he does ever so well – he doesn’t slow down with the ball at his feet. He looks like he’s even faster which is actually crazy. I knew I was fast, I know the man himself is really fast but we will never know (who is faster). If I tried to run right now, I’d pull my hamstring!
On Karim Benzema…
“You have to respect what was happening. But all I care about now is Benzema is back.
“When you think about it, you find yourself in a situation where you are world champion, you managed to do it without Benzema. And you can actually bring him back, not because you’re struggling – just because you can. It’s crazy when you think about it. You’re bringing back in the national team one of the best strikers in the world.”
On an Arsene Wenger statue at the Emirates Stadium
“I don’t have that power – but they should have one. Listen – if it was only for me, Wrighty would have one, everybody would have one. Everybody who has marked the history of the club would just have statues around the stadium!”
On Harry Kane…
“I’ll go down with that (the assumption Harry Kane is one of the best natural finishers the Premier League has ever seen).”
“People thought he was going to be a one-season wonder. Then they were like let’s see if he’s going to do it for two years. Then he did it for two years. ‘Now let’s see if he can do it for England’ – listen, now nobody can talk about that anymore.”
“I said so many times, I think I said it four years ago – he will smash Alan Shearer’s record if he stays in England. That is if he stays in England because he’s that good. Now he has to do it. Because obviously it’s easy to say – but the record of the big man is really high.”
On a ‘The Last Dance’ style documentary for Arsenal’s Invincibles season…
“It would be great. I would like people to know how Lauren was. How Kolo Toure was. How Ray Parlour was. I mean you see him joking and everything but he was a hell of a player. You don’t win or stay unbeaten or win titles because you have the so-called flamboyant or flair players.”
“This is why I think it would be good because to introduce ‘unsung heroes’ to everybody and how we respected them. Because without them I couldn’t do what I was doing. You always talk about me, and Dennis and Robert Pires and so on and then you don’t mention Lauren. It seems like Lauren never played for us. What a player he was!”
On the infamous time Zanetti and Materazzi both wanted to swap shirts…
“I actually think Javier Zanetti came first. And then I put my head in the shirt. When I put my head down I saw Materazzi and I was like “well…”. And then Materazzi said, “we’ll change in the return leg”. And that’s what happened!
On one day becoming Arsenal manager…
Right now I’m learning my curve. It’s not easy to be a coach. It’s a long way. Even though I don’t live far from the stadium – but it’s a long way!
