Henry nears Gunners return

Arsenal are expected to complete a two-month loan deal for club legend Thierry Henry within the next 48 hours.

The Gunners are understood to have reached an agreement with the 34-year-old during talks and are now seeking to ratify the deal with the Frenchman’s club the New York Red Bulls and the MLS.

The Red Bulls have shown no indication of wanting to block the two-month move, but are understood to be waiting for a final agreement on the insurance policy before definitively allowing the deal to go through.

Henry has told Arsenal officials he is desperate to return to the club he left for Barcelona in 2007, with the Londoners ready to pay all of his 70,000-pound-a-week salary once the January transfer window opens on Sunday.

Sources close to the deal are at pains to insist that nothing has been signed just yet, but a return to Arsenal is increasingly looking like a formality.

Should the deal go through as Arsenal plan, the striker would likely make his second Arsenal coming in the FA Cup clash against Leeds United on January 9.

Reports on Friday in the UK suggested Henry will wear the number 12 shirt in his second spell at the club, due to the fact his old number 14 shirt is taken by Theo Walcott.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger made his move for Henry after deciding he needed cover when forwards Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh go to the Africa Cup of Nations in January.

Henry will provide support for captain Robin van Persie in attack and is likely to be eligible for seven Premier League fixtures, plus FA Cup matches and the first leg of Arsenal’s Champions League last-16 tie with AC Milan.

Henry has been training with Arsenal for the past month during the MLS off-season and impressed Wenger sufficiently with his form and fitness for his compatriot to decide to make a move.

He will have to return to New York for the start of the new MLS season in March.

Henry is Arsenal’s all-time leading scorer, having netted 226 times in eight years after joining from Juventus in 1999.

He is still idolised by the fans and the club unveiled a statue of him outside the Emirates Stadium on December 9.