Sir Alex Ferguson’s Brutal Six-Word Reason for Man Utd Not Signing Thierry Henry

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson supposedly made a brutal comment about why he never signed Thierry Henry despite the Frenchman initially wanting to sign for the Red Devils instead of Arsenal in 1999.

Henry is a legend at Arsenal, having signed from Juventus for £11 million back in 1999 before going on register 228 goals - the most of any Gunners player - and 104 assists in 377 appearances for the club.

During his time in north London, Henry helped Arsene Wenger’s side win two Premier League titles and three FA Cups and etched his name into the club’s history books as their greatest ever player.

But things could have been entirely different.

According to Eric Cantona and David Beckham’s former security guard, Ned Kelly, Henry was recommended to Ferguson by Cantona’s older brother, Jean-Marie.

Thierry Henry is an Arsenal legend (Credit:Getty)

Speaking on beIN Sports back in 2020, Kelly explained how Henry wanted to move to United and saw the club as his “first choice” destination rather than Arsenal.

“In the tunnel after the game, my phone goes, Eric’s [Cantona] older brother Jean-Marie says, ‘Ned, tell Alex [Ferguson] that Thierry Henry wants to come to the club,'” Kelly said.

“Now this was before he went to Arsenal, his first choice was Manchester United. So I go to the boss and say, ‘Boss, I’ve just had Jean-Marie Cantona on the phone, he had said Henry wants to come to the club’.

“He [Ferguson] says, ‘no way, he’s always f****** injured’. He went to Arsenal, the rest is history.”

Sir Alex Ferguson did not want to sign Thierry Henry (Credit:Getty)

Instead of signing the forward, the then-Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup holders brought defender Mikael Silvestre from Inter, goalkeeper Massimo Taibi from Venice, and goalkeeper Mark Bosnich from Aston Villa.

The trio failed to improve United’s side, but Ferguson still managed to secure his sixth Premier League title during the 1999/00 campaign.

Henry went on to haunt United, scoring six times and producing eight assists in 23 appearances against the Red Devils throughout his career.

Not only did he make them pay during his time in England, but he also formed part of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side that beat United 2-0 in the Champions League final back in 2009.