Wenger: Henry going nowhere
Thierry Henry has once again been linked with a move to Spain
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Friday, 06, Apr 2007 07:21
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has refuted fresh claims linking striker Thierry Henry with a summer move to Barcelona.
Newspaper reports this morning have suggested the Spanish giants are preparing a new £20 million offer for the Frenchman, who turned down a similar chance to move to the Nou Camp at the end of last season.
Henry has been injured for much of the season and will not play again this campaign - an absence that has been keenly felt by an Arsenal side which will finish the season without a trophy for the third successive year.
But Wenger has dashed speculation suggesting that the Gunners are prepared to let Henry go after his inauspicious season.
"The story is wrong. I had a chat with Thierry this morning," Wenger said.
"He asked me whether I'd read the newspapers. I'd not heard about his story. But it's completely invented. He's clear, he wants to stay. I'm clear, I want him to stay. So that story has been created."
Wenger went on to express his confidence that the Arsenal captain will recover from the stomach and groin injuries which have curtailed his season and be back at his best next year.
The Gunners boss was also hopeful that the absence of a major international competition this summer will give Henry the time off he needs to fully recover his fitness.
"I'm optimistic that [the break will be good for Henry]," Wenger continued.
"It's good sometimes to look at your job from a distance. First of all you experience how much you miss it and secondly you are natural in your analysing of the game. You are more objective about the football situations."
Arsenal take on West Ham at the Emirates tomorrow and will be hopeful of turning around a run of poor form that has seen them lose twice, against Everton and Liverpool, in quick succession.