Thierry Henry will take over from Wenger in two years, claims top journalist

Thierry Henry has been tipped to take over as Arsenal manager when Arsene Wenger steps down, with the club legend being groomed to take the reins in the next couple of years.

Deputy football correspondent for The Guardian Amy Lawrence was speaking on Football Weekly, and suggests that Henry will take over at Arsenal sooner rather than later.

The Frenchman is currently doing his training badges, and has been working at various different youth levels – most recently the Under 19s. He is far from ready to take over at the moment, and there’s no telling whether he will grow into the manager we need by the time Wenger retires; Lawrence certainly seems to think that is the plan though.

“My personal philosophy is that Arsenal will want Thierry Henry to take over [when Wenger retires],” she said.

“I think it’s based on at least two years down the line, at which point people will have a lot better idea of where Henry is in terms of his coaching.

“I think Arsenal feel that he is such an important status symbol and that he represents something about the club.

“He’s doing his coaching badges at the moment and working with the Under-19s and is at the club, at the training ground pretty much every day.

“They feel he is such an important figure that if he has the passion and communication skills to put into practice all his ideas about football, they might hope he might be able to come through the system, like Guardiola did, rather than having to go for somebody external.”

Don't Miss:

It’s certainly a nice idea, and there are very few managers currently out there who seem capable of taking over from Wenger and keeping the Arsenal philosophy intact.

With no managerial experience under his belt however, asking him to take over a club the size of Arsenal in the next few years is a tall order.

In an ideal world Henry would take charge at Arsenal and be an unbridled success, we’ve seen before at other clubs that ex-players becoming managers doesn’t always work, and it can severely damage their legend status at the club.

SEE MORE:
Arsenal transfer news

It would be a real shame to see Henry’s status at the club tarnished, but it would arguably be worth the risk if Wenger believes he’s the right man to take over once he’s gone.