I hope you’re familiar with Thierry Henry but if you’re not then let me give you the skinny bio. He is Arsenals all time leading goal scorer (see all 226 here) and one of the premierships greatest players, he won everything at club AND international level having played in France, Italy, England, Spain and the US. A player so instrumental to our success at Arsenal that the club recently honoured him with a statue and what better pose to choose than of his celebration after scoring this incredible goal against arch rivals Spurs. (COME ON YOU SPURS, – ed.)

Over the past few weeks Arsenal fans in London and across the world have been whipped in to a frenzy over the possibility of re-signing the Arsenal legend on a two month loan. Now at the time of writing this, the signing isn’t complete, the small matter of wages and insurance payments are being finalised but with that being said there should be an official announcement confirming the temporary signing in the next 48 hours.

If you are an Arsenal fan or a football fan in general you shouldn’t need me to explain why this is such a special signing for us as a club and for me and the rest of the fans but I do appreciate not everyone likes football (whats wrong with you people) so let me break it down like this;

Imagine,
You meet a girl (or boy) who’s just moved to your city, you’re a bit unsure on whether you’ll become more than friends but that quickly changes. You fall head over heels for each other and over the next 8 years share some of the best moments of your life together. You travel the world, you never argue, you are the envy of your friends and family who all wish they could have what you share. Despite thinking you’d spend the rest of your lives together after 8 years she (or he) has his head turned and leaves you and moves to Spain to start fresh with someone new.

You’re devastated, why did this happen? How are you going to continue? It was so good! but now it’s finished. You slowly pick yourself up and carry on with your life, realising it’s the end of a chapter you eventually are able to look back on the good times you spent together with a smile and are just happy you got to experience what you did.

Every now and again you’ll hear from them, things go well for them in Spain and you’re getting on with life, enjoying things but as much as you want them to be, they never quite turn out as good as when you were a couple but thats life and you get on with it.  A couple of summers later and you get a text from her/him telling you they’ve moved to NYC, they wanted a change, you save the new number and wish them the best.

A year or two later and you’re personal and professional life isn’t going too well, you’ve hit a low. You do some soul searching and get back to basics and slowly start to get your life back on the right track when out of the blue you get a call from him/her, ‘I know this is a big ask and feel free to say no but I’ve got some time off work and wanted to spend some time in London, can I crash at yours?’. You don’t even have to think and before you know it they turn up on your doorstep and you are welcoming them with open arms.

Over the next couple of weeks you spend a lot of time together, reminiscing and talking about those good times you had and boom just like that you’re a couple again, you know it’s only for 2 months before they have to get back to the their commitments in the US but you’re happy. You got that good feeling back, you’re mood is lifted, your friends are either against it thinking it’s a bad idea or are jealous of the prospect of you being so happy again. As for you, you’re just happy to be reunited and excited about the possibility of what new memories you two can make together over the next two months.

Hopefully you’ll now understand why r-esigning Thierry even on a short term basis is so special for us. Even if you take away the primary reason we signed him, his potential goals on the pitch, I think it’s a very astute signing. There’s no doubt the squad will benefit from having someone with such experience and some one with that winning mentality in the dressing room and training pitch, couple that with the fact that every time he comes down that tunnel or off the bench at the Emirates the place will erupt.

The next two months will be extremely interesting for Arsenal, Thierry and and us Arsenal fans. So all thats left for me to say is, Welcome back Thierry, its good to have you home.

Roy