By Jim van Wijk, PA Sport
Last updated March 21 2006
True genius in life is rare, but no other superlative perhaps best describes Thierry Henry.
However, when the Frenchman first arrived at Arsenal in 1999, he was honest enough to admit the famous timepiece in the Clock End of Highbury was often more in danger of being hit than the back of the opposition net.
As Henry struggled to make the transition not only to English football but also to his new role as a central striker, he drew inspiration from the club's greatest goal scoring legend.Ian Wright - whose record of 185 goals for the club was broken by Henry during last season - had left Highbury just over a year earlier for West Ham.
However, Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein still handed Henry a compilation video of Wright's goalscoring feats and the Frenchman watched in fascination as the net bulged time after time after time.
Henry watched and learned. "I said to myself, 'He's no bigger than me, no faster, no more muscular but he scores more goals'," the French World Cup winner recalled.
"I watched him closely. He put 100% into everything. When he called for a pass, he shouted at the top of his voice - and when he'd get it, he'd smack it into the back of the net. I just kept thinking - this is a goalscoring move.
"I never thought when I was watching the tape that I was going to break his record, though. "That's not me, I don't set myself any targets. I just try to go with the flow." Nevertheless, it was a lesson which certainly paid off.
By the end of that first season in English football, Henry had scored 26 times, followed by hauls of 22 and then 32 goals in the next two campaigns and it is no surprise to see him now closing in on a double century for the Gunners as they prepare for a new start at the Emirates Stadium next season.
"I remember coming here and I wasn't hitting the target. But everyone - the manager, the players and the fans - kept believing in me and that was a big plus," Henry said.
