Barcelona - Such A Beautiful Horizon For Henry

It may have taken a year but this weekend has seen the long drawn out conclusion of Barcelona's chase for Arsenal and France star Thierry Henry as he jets into Catalonia for a medical ahead of a reputed £16m deal.

While Arsenal fans have spent the past few days in a state of frantic grief and disbelief, there have sighs of relief from fans of all other Premiership clubs now that the last on-field architect of Arsenal's "Invincibles" has finally left the English stage. Henry may be 29 years of age but that hasn't meant any diminishing of his powers and despite a final season at Arsenal spent more on the treatment table and in the Emirates Stadium stands than on the pitch, Henry leaves a gap in Arsene Wenger's lineup so huge as to completely unpluggable with Arsenal's current resources.

The writing has been on the proverbial wall since Arsenal's defeat in the 2006 Champion's League Final when it was widely believed that Henry would make his excuses and leave for Champion's League conquerors Barcelona but strangely he signed a new four deal instead and pledged his future to the club. His move to Barcelona a year on makes that pledge completely worthless and makes me wonder personally whether he didn't realise shortly after signing last summer's new contract what a huge mistake he had made.

I don't doubt that Thierry Henry holds Arsenal close to his heart but he has achieved all he can with the club and following the loss of David Dein, Arsene Wenger's inability to commit his own future to Arsenal and a palpable lack of transfer funds to reinvigorate a threadbare squad it seems like reality has finally dawned on one of the most sought after players in European football.

So it's onwards to the Nou Camp to test himself in another new league and, more tellingly, to give himself a genuine chance of winning the one major trophy that has eluded Henry so far in his career, the Champion's League.

source: World Soccer