MLS Blog: Thierry Henry Finally Earns MLS Wings
19th July 2010
Last Wednesday the worst kept secret in American football was finally confirmed in public. An ad in the New York Times heralded the arrival of Major League Soccer´s latest international superstar: former Arsenal and Barcelona forward Thierry Henry had signed with the New York Red Bulls.
The iconic Frenchman has long been slated for a move to MLS from Barca and the Red Bulls was really the only destination for him. The club clearly has big ambitions; Henry is RBNY´s second designated player, alongside former Aston Villa striker Juan Pablo Angel, and they are strongly rumoured to be considering adding Rafael Marquez as the third. It´s a bold strategy that makes New York the first club to take full advantage of changes to the designated player rule earlier this year.
The buzz around Red Bull Arena in the middle of last week was clear even to a UK-based observer, and will only increase when Henry steps out onto the pitch to face Tottenham Hotspur in a friendly on Thursday. The 32-year-old Parisian brings to MLS all the quality, excitement and glamour of the David Beckham signing without - hopefully - all the complications and controversy that surrounded elements of the former England captain´s first couple of years in California.
The move makes Henry one of a growing number of active designated players in MLS: Henry and Juan Pablo Angel (New York), David Beckham and Landon Donovan (LA), Branko Boskovic (DC), Julian de Guzman and Mista (Toronto), Freddie Ljungberg and Blaise Nkufo (Seattle).
The player himself is ebullient about his move: "This marks an exciting new chapter in my career and life. It is an honour to play for the New York Red Bulls. I am fully aware of the team’s history and my sole goal during my time here is to help win the club its first championship. Knowing Red Bull’s significant commitment to soccer locally and internationally, I am confident that my teammates and I will succeed."
Henry is a master of image manipulation but he should be genuinely excited about this move. When you´ve won everything there is to win and become one of the most admired and well-known footballers in the world, it must be tempting to kick back and relax but if you can help a growing league make waves in a competitive sports market then all the better. Don´t make the mistake of thinking Henry is taking early retirement; the Red Bulls have a genuine chance of silverware over the next couple of years and Henry is nothing if not competitive. At 32, the Frenchman is more than capable of dominating matches in MLS, but he´ll have to be at his best to help New York to honours.
It must be an inviting challenge, and one that involves a move to New York, a city with an aura and a lucrative market for a photogenic sportsman.
The benefits for New York and indeed for Red Bull are clear, but MLS could be handsomely rewarded too. The Beckham Experiment, as it was dubbed by Sports Illustrated journalist Grant Wahl in his book of that name, promised the same results as Henry´s signing. The former Arsenal man is a globally recognised marquee name with huge marketing potential for the league, and for a league on a continuous curve of growth marketing is the name of the game. Players like Henry and Beckham are likely to increase the quality of the league as well as afford MLS opportunities to use them to great effect off the pitch.
Unlike Beckham´s advisors and managers, allegations of interference and lack of integration should not be an issue for Henry´s. Has MLS moved on so much in the last three years that we´re now not shocked that a leading player would want to spend his last years on the field in MLS? There´s certainly a ´football´ feel to Henry´s move that was overshadowed when Beckham arrived in Carson. Perhaps Beckham would do things differently now, perhaps he should´ve moved later in the first place. Either way, optimism abounds again and that can only be a good thing.
There is a danger, of course, that the revamped designated player rule and the signing of big names who are past their best will earn MLS a reputation as a cosy retirement home for star players. In a sense, that´s the price MLS must pay for progress against a backdrop of salary capping. The spectre of NASL looms large when star players join MLS, but their presence is restricted by the evolving ´Beckham Rule´. However that turns out, players of Henry´s quality will help the league grow and improve within a Europe-obsessed American football market.
Chris Nee is the editor of twofootedtackle.com
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