Report: Henry leaving Arsenal for Barcelona

Jun 22, 2007, 23:38 GMT

Madrid, Spain - Thierry Henry will leave Arsenal and sign a four-year contract with Barcelona, Spain's El Pais newspaper reported Friday.

Henry, one of the premier strikers in the world, is expected to sign for $32 million. Barcelona plans to officially announce the signing Saturday.

Henry has been with Arsenal since 1999. In 364 games with the English Premier League team, he has scored a club-record 226 goals. He missed much of last season because of various injuries but still scored 10 goals.

Henry helped Arsenal win two Premier League titles and three FA Cups. Arsenal also advanced to the finals of 2000 UEFA Cup and the 2006 Champions League.

He led the Premier League in scoring four times and was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice.

Henry, 29, still had three years left on his contract with Arsenal. Rumors about him leaving the club increased after Arsenal finished fourth in the Premier League for the second year in a row.

Barcelona finished tied with Real Madrid atop the Spanish La Liga, but lost the title on a tiebreaker on head-to-head results.

Henry's career started when he was just 13 and joined French first division club Monaco in 1991. He didn't make his debut until the 1994-95 campaign but was voted French Young Player of the Year a season later.

In 1997, he scored nine goals in 36 matches to help Monaco to the French title. He earned his first cap for France's national team at the beginning of the following season.

He played in six of France's seven games during its 1998 World Cup triumph. He scored three first-round goals, but was on the bench for the 3-0 win against Brazil in the final.

Henry joined Juventus of the Italian Serie A in January of 1999 and started just 12 games before going to Arsenal for $20.99 million. He won his first Premier League scoring title in the 2001-02 season.

In 2004, he became the first to be named Player of the Year by the football writers in consecutive seasons after leading Arsenal to the first undefeated season in Premier League history.

Henry scored his 186th goal with Arsenal in 2005 to overtake Ian Wright as the club's all-time leading scorer.

He scored his 200th goal for the team in the 2005-06 season and captained the team to its first Champions League final, a 2-1 loss to Barcelona. He was again named writers' Player of the Year to become the only player to receive the honor three times.

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