FCBARCELONA.CAT

23.07.2009 14:27

Henry praises Barça’s home-grown talent

Jesús Carrillo

French international Thierry Henry, speaking at his first press conference of the season, praised the numbers and quality of the players coming through the Barça academy: “It’s an extraordinary achievement.

Henry is coming up to his third season with FC Barcelona and compares the situation at the Club with his experience at Arsenal: “Wenger did the same thing at Arsenal, but here there are many more”.

Few comparisons

“Last year we played a lot of important matches with eight or nine home-grown players. Nobody’s done that and there are few clubs in Europe that could apart from Barça. I can only remember one example when Beckham, Scholes, Giggs and Keane made their debuts for Manchester United round about 1997”.

A tough year

Henry believes it will be difficult to follow on from the treble-winning season: “This year will be very difficult. Everyone will want to beat us and every game will be very difficult. Also, our season will be very long. Real Madrid? I believe we’ll be close all season but I hope our experience will push the balance in our favour”.

Motivation

Henry is one of the few footballers still playing who has just about won it all but he’s still hungry for future success: “For me that’s all in the past. I don’t need any kind of motivation because football itself and winning the next match are enough. What I enjoy most is competing, to be in a club that always wants to win every match and that’s what keeps me motivated”.

Eto’o, Ribéry and Ibrahimovic

The names Eto'o, Ribéry and Ibrahimovic come up all the time at the moment when people talk about Barça and Henry spoke to reporters about them all. Referring to Eto’o, he said: “I can only tell you that he’s a great friend of mine and a fantastic player. And he’s still a Barça player”.

As for fellow countryman Ribéry, he revealed: “He’s got a Barça shirt at home but when we’ve talked it’s been about everything except football. I think he’ll stay at Bayern Munich this year”.

Moving on to the Swedish international he assured reporters: “He’s a great player. Arsenal were on the point of signing him before he went to Ajax. Since then I’ve kept a close eye on him. If he comes here he won’t have any problems settling in as he’s a great player”.