Thierry Henry has said that he would be willing to go back into management one day amid links for the former Arsenal forward to the vacancy as Belgium head coach. Roberto Martinez left his role after a disastrous World Cup campaign saw the final chance for the 'golden generation' fall flat.
Belgium were dumped out in the group stage and saw captain Eden Hazard retire shortly after. Henry was part of the coaching staff for the tournament, taking up the assistant coach role next to Martinez, a position he initially started in 2018 before taking it back up in 2021.
Since 2018 Henry has had several ventures into management himself, though, and has now told the Belgian Football Association that he would be willing to take on the head coach role full time should they consider him the right fit.
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Belgian publication HLN write that he is also willing to move onto lower wages than Martinez in order to boost his chances. The 45-year-old paid all of his earnings from 2022 to charity, a fee believed to be around £88,000. The next manager will be on less than that though, not a fact that Henry would worry about.
When it comes to taking up the role full time, it's something that he has expressed the thought of doing. Speaking in an interview with Ben Foster, Henry admitted that management isn't out of the equation, though he didn't reference the national team job specifically. "Yeah [I would manage again], with the right project," he said.
"I obviously have to be humble about it because I am doing an assistant coaching job right now with Belgium but we are talking about the structure maybe of one day, if the project is right.
"I went to Monaco and you guys won't have known but when I got there there was 13 players and they gave me two and a half months and I got the sack. I saw Mike Phelan and he told me 'now you are a coach' as soon as I got the sack.
"Then I went to Montreal and I came back because I didn't see my kids for a year which was tough, it was Covid time, crazy. We played all our games away from home, you have to deal with the ambition of the players, the ego of the players, not going back home you know how it is. Staying in the same place for months.
"It was tough but call me crazy, if there is a reasonable opportunity, I'd have to assess it but yeah, I'd love to."
Henry's managerial record so is not the most impressive. In 49 matches across those two stints he has only 14 wins. He is a popular member of staff, though, and already has the backing of Romelu Lukaku. The Inter Milan striker said in an interview last week: "For me Henry is the next coach of Belgium. There are no doubts. I say it openly: he will be the next coach."
Lukaku is Belgium's all-time top scorer and is a senior figure in the changing room. It is also not uncommon for international managers to come from less experienced club roles before taking up the position.
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