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Emmanuel Petit says he once had to warn Thierry Henry about his “extremely arrogant attitude” during their brief time together at Arsenal.
While Petit and Henry are both seen as key figures of the successful Arsenal team of the late nineties and early noughties, the French pair only played alongside each other for a single season in English football – the 1999-2000 campaign.
Petit has now revealed there was once a row between himself and Henry after he took exception to the way the striker celebrated a goal during his first season at Highbury.
Petit says he was forced to speak to Henry about his attitude and urged manager Arsene Wenger to take the young forward down a peg or two.
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"I had a conversation with Titi [Henry] in front of Arsene Wenger when we were playing for Arsenal," Petit told French channel RMC.
"There were five of us at a sponsor's event, together with Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira.
"We had played a few days before, I think at Highbury, and Titi had scored twice. I hadn't liked his celebration one little bit.
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"He had gone over to the corner flag, with an extremely arrogant attitude.
"I told him that myself and some of the other players didn't like the way he celebrated. He understandably didn't take what I said at all well. But it was all too much as far as I was concerned.
"I challenged Arsene and told him it wasn't my job to tell Henry off - instead it was down to him."
Petit would join Barcelona at the end of the season after three successful years in north London, while Henry would go on to achieve legendary status at Arsenal – later becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer with 228 goals in 377 games for the Gunners.
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While Petit and Henry played alongside each other for just a short time at Arsenal, they were international teammates with France for a number of years.
Both men were part of the squad that won the World Cup on home soil in 1998 as well as Euro 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Topics: Arsenal, Football, Thierry Henry, Premier League