
Henry was born in
Les Ulis,
Essonne where he played for a local team when he was a youngster and was talented in scoring good goals. He was spotted by
AS Monaco in 1990 and signed instantly, making his professional debut in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which he signed for the
Serie A defending champions
Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the
wing, before joining
Arsenal for
£11 million in 1999. It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer. even though he was struggling in the
Premier League, he became Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season.
Arsène Wenger trained him hard and made Henry become a top striker and Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. The Frenchman won two league titles and three
FA Cups with the Gunners; he was nominated for the
FIFA World Player of the Year twice, was named the
PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the
Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club
captain, leading them to the
UEFA Champions League final in 2006. In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to
Barcelona for a fee of
€24 million. Henry had good success with the
French national team, with france he won the
1998 World Cup,
Euro 2000 and
2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. In October 2007, he overtook
Michel Platini's record to become France's top goal-scorer of all time. Henry retired from international football after the
2010 World Cup. Off the pitch, Henry is an active spokesperson against
racism in football, partially due to his own experiences. He married English model Nicole Merry in 2003 and had a daughter with her, but they divorced in 2007. Henry was also one of the top commercially marketed footballers; he was ranked ninth in the world in 2006.