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It seems that the question on many people’s lips at the moment is whether Thierry Henry is on his way out of FC Barcelona. The striker has repeatedly been linked with moves away from the Camp Nou in this summer’s upcoming transfer window, with moves to America’s MLS, or big spending Manchester City the most notable rumours concerning the Frenchman’s future. But what exactly has brought on such discussion?

After all Titi was an integral part of the Triplet winning side from last season, playing 42 games in all competitions for the club, scoring 25 goals and creating 11 assists in the process. Strong numbers by any stretch of the imagination, especially when you consider Henry’s advancing years, he will be 33 in the summer. In fact judging by facts and figures alone last season was the striker’s strongest showing for some time. The last time he got 20 goals+ at club level being the 2005-06 season at Arsenal.

In fact it could be argued that Henry was a more dynamic and fruitful member of the squad than the other ‘trouble maker’ of the team, Samuel Eto’o, who scored an amazing 34 goals from 49 appearances in all competitions but only 6 assists all season. Now such a goal ratio is not to be sniffed at, even when you consider that Eto’o found himself in somewhat of a memorable goal drought at the tail-end of the season, costing himself the golden boot. Of course he did score in the Champions League final so we can forgive him for that. But with nearly half the amount of assists of Henry, having played 5 games extra, it seems Samu’s exit may have been expected.

On assists alone I think it is worth mentioning that Henry was only 4 short of Lionel Messi, which seems impressive enough in itself.

How times have changed

This season Henry has found himself as a marginalized figure. From the 35 games FC Barcelona have played this season (including the Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and World Club Cup), he has started just 17, coming off the bench in 2. This, of course has many explanations. For the past four seasons or so Henry has been troubled with multiple injuries, with re-occuring back problems being his most notable achilles heel, and unfortunately this season has found the Frenchman on the treatment table more frequently than last.

Compare these stats to that of Henry’s heir apparent, Pedro Rodriguez. The young striker has started the same amount of games as Henry, 17, but it’s from the bench that the notable difference can be seen, with the young Canary Islander making 14 substitute appearances so far this season. He is Pep’s go-to guy, and it’s easy to see why he may favour the young pup as opposed to the experienced bloodhound. Pedro has scored 14 times so far this season, chipping in with 1 assist. Henry has scored just twice, with the same amount of assists.

But a player cannot be judged on facts and figures alone. When fully-fit and in full-flow most spectators would recognise the true greatness of Henry, but therein lies the problem. Not only has his fitness proved a problem, so too has his pace. He has lost that electric charge he used to have at Arsenal, and which we saw in moments at Barca last season. In short his legs have gone. He no longer seems able to beat a man, and worse than that, he seems to know it. His head has dropped somewhat, and the thing that made him so great (running at defenders, cutting inside, stretching play) is the thing he can no longer do. It is a sad fact, but it is true; the Henry of old is gone. And as such he must change his game, but whether he can do that at Barca is the issue at hand.

Guardiola’s Barcelona are all about movement, speed, the swapping of positions and rotation of duties. For all of his willingness Henry just hasn’t got the fitness or pace to do what’s expected of him, whether that be leading the line, running at defenders or tracking back to cover for the attack minded wing-backs, Eric Abidal and Maxwell. To illustrate this, we can look at his accumulation of yellow cards and the fouls given away. Last season he conceded 47 fouls and was booked 5 times. This season, with far fewer appearances, he’s already got 4 yellow cards to his name, giving away 13 fouls in the process. These are not the stats of a player at the height of his game.

All that said there is something about Henry that seems to hold people’s affection. Both fans and players alike seem enamoured of the man. He is always spoken of in glowing terms; cited as a gentleman (well maybe not in Ireland!?) and good to have around, often seen laughing and joking with team-mates, and famously acting as a father-figure for younger players. Such traits can make a player the centre point of a team, even if it is more off the field than on it, and this may explain why Pep chose to keep hold of Thierry for this season.

But would another season in the shadows be something Henry would consider? On the plus side, he may get the odd Champions league outing, and possibly a few more medals for his collection. On the downside, he would be warming the bench more often than not, with all the loss of fitness and feeling that entails. It seems a sad end to what has been one of the great careers in recent European footballing history, what with the venomous reaction to ‘The Hand of Frog’ and the possible anonymity that comes with a move to America. But we shouldn’t forget just how great Thierry has been. He has given all football fans, regardless of club or country, some great memories and won every competition possible in his time. It seems unfair that the lasting memory of a player is of their less-than-great days rather than their truly-great days, and I hope our thoughts of Henry are blessed by hindsight, as he truly deserves it.

So with continuing talk of the need for an out-and-out left-winger, and apparent moves in the pipeline this summer for Ribery, Silva, Suarez, et al, it seems there is only one question left. Will he go in the summer? Yes I think he will. Will he be remembered fondly at Barca? I really hope so. But I think it fitting if we leave the last word to the great man himself :

“In football you always get judged on your last game. Whoever you are, or how amazing you are, it’s the last game that everyone has seen.” - Thierry Henry