Wenger backs Henry to bounce back

Arsene Wenger believes Thierry Henry can still have a successful managerial career, despite his sacking after just three months in charge of Monaco.

Henry, who enjoyed eight trophy-laden years under Wenger as a player at Arsenal, was sacked after 20 games at the helm of a Monaco side that won just four times under his leadership.

But Wenger said the timing of Henry’s arrival at Stade Louis II contributed to the shortlived nature of his tenure, pointing out that pressure on coaches mounts more quickly in the middle of a campaign than at the start.

Speaking at the Laureus World Sports Awards 2019, Wenger said: “If you arrive in October and the team is in a bad position, you have three months because in January everybody starts to become nervous that things could go very badly, so you have less time.

“That’s what’s happened to Thierry but how he bounces back will be very important. I believe he has the quality and he has the desire to make a career and the career is judged on a longer period.

“I started my job at 33, I had a lot of promising people around me, many disappeared and some survived. You need luck and we need to work hard but it’s always very difficult to predict a career of a manager.

“We depend a lot on the quality of the players, the quality of the club and the quality of the confidence we get.”

1.97 v 0.75 – Leonardo Jardim had 1.97 point per game with Monaco in Ligue 1, second highest tally for a Monaco manager with more than 10 games in their history. Thierry Henry had 0.75 point, the lowest tally ever for a Monaco manager with more than 10 Ligue 1 games. Volte-face. pic.twitter.com/CvNN1FeKSM

— OptaJean (@OptaJean) January 25, 2019

Turning to his own future, Wenger stopped short of confirming he would seek a return to management.

The 69-year-old has been linked with the head coach position at Real Madrid after leaving Arsenal at the end of the 2017-18 season, but he said he was taking time to travel while watching former players Henry and Patrick Vieira cut their teeth in management.

“My future is unknown, even for me,” he said.

“I am quite open, I enjoy daily life. I have travelled a lot recently, all over the world to see how sport develops and to see how sport has really become of huge importance.

“I believe that sport, in the world, has a huge responsibility and this responsibility is not all about stars but about values.

“It’s good for me to see the players I had continue to share our game and to develop young players.”