Arsene Wenger has told L'Equipe that Arsenal's all-time leading goal scorer Thierry Henry claimed he did not "know how to score goals" when he was told to play centre-forward.
Henry 37, arrived in North London from Juventus in 1999 after six disappointing months in Turin where he was largely ineffective playing on the wing.
With Davor Suker, Dennis Bergkamp and Nwankwo Kanu all vying for a place up front in Wenger's side, Henry initially had to settle for a bit-part role.
Wenger, 65, had hoped to pair the pacey striker with fellow Frenchman Nicolas Anelka, but Anelka's departure for Real Madrid scuppered the prospect of the duo playing together in the Premier League defences, but eventually led to the Arsenal boss making the most fruitful of tactical switches.
He said: "At the start, when I brought him in from Juventus, my idea was to pair him with Nicolas Anelka. But that summer, Anelka left to go to Real Madrid and the project had to be abandoned. Once at Arsenal, Thierry didn't get into the team straightaway because there were a lot of players ahead of him in the attacking sector.
"Everything became easier when, one day, I decided to play him through the middle. He said to me, 'Coach, I don't know how to score goals.' You could say that he's made fools of everyone..."
Henry, who would go on to score a record 226 goals for Arsenal, was given the honour of the front page of France's main sports daily L'Equipe on Wednesday with a large picture of the striker under the headline "A king leaves" following Henry's announcement on Tuesday he was hanging up his boots.
Inside, the paper dedicates four pages to Henry's career, including a lengthy article focussing on the forward's trademark sidefoot, curling finish across the goalkeeper and into the far corner. "In a super-exposed sport, Henry used it systematically and popularised it, making it effective in the extreme," the article stated.
Le Parisien gives the former Barcelona forward, who was born in Les Ulis in Paris' suburbs, the homage of former France and Barca teammate Lilian Thuram, who said, "All football lovers respect his career."
dedicated a lengthy article to Henry entitled "Just below God lives King Henry" detailing the highlights of his 20-year professional career.
A lengthy article on football365.fr dedicated to Henry was entitled "Just below God lives King Henry," detailing the highlights of his 20-year professional career.
"Though the end of his career with Les Bleus was difficult, Thierry Henry has undoubtedly marked the great history of French football," the article states, referring to Henry's last international appearance at the 2010 World Cup, marred by the France squad's strike.
"So much so he can be considered to be close to the three greatest in the Pantheon: [Raymond] Kopa, [Michel] Platini and [Zinedine] Zidane."