‘I knew it’ – Ian Wright quizzes Arsene Wenger amid Arsenal and Thierry Henry revelation



Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that he planned to keep Nicolas Anelka in 1999, despite the signing of Thierry Henry at the club.

Anelka instead left for Real Madrid in the summer, with the Gunners then landing his compatriot Henry from Juventus after his move away.

Anelka joined in 1997, winning the Premier League and the FA Cup in his two-year stay in London. The forward impressed in his time at the club, finishing the 1998/99 season as the top scorer and he was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year.

The French international then claimed he wanted a move away during that summer, citing the press as his reason for doing so.

That’s when Henry joined the club, staying for eight-years with a two-month loan spell towards the end of his career.

The 44-year-old impressed at both Highbury and the Emirates, winning two Premier League titles and two FA Cups, whilst he also finished as a runner-up in the Champions League in 2006 with the club.

Arsenal icon Ian Wright was keen to know if the duo could have played alongside each other, or if the plan was to sign Henry after Anelka had moved on.

Talking to Wenger on his podcast, Wrighty’s House, he asked: “You know what I wanted to ask you, because it was something that I was always really quite disappointed it never happened – with Anelka and Henry.

“Did you always have Henry to come there, because Anelka just left us, was your plan to have those two together?”

The former manager replied: “Yeah.”

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Wright continued: “Would Anelka have played [No.9] then, and Henry have stuck there [out wide]?”

Wenger replied: “Yeah, exactly that.”

Which left Wright stunned, saying: “I knew it you know, I just knew it. My head is blown.”





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