Henry interested in taking over Belgium national team

Is it time for Thierry Henry to come back to the managerial waters? Apparently it is. Arsenal’s legend is interested in becoming a full time Belgium national team coach, and apparently, few players will back him up in his decision. Somewhat shy, this report appeared in the Belgium newspapers, as Het Laatste Nieuws first wrote about it. The Belgium football federation is indeed in the process of finding a new coach, after Roberto Martinez called it quits after the World Cup in Qatar.

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No names have been mentioned yet, apart from this report on Henry, but the recently retired Netherlands coach Louis Van Gaal also put himself in the shopping window.

“Belgium is a wonderful country with really friendly people, so yes I've thought about it" he said during the recent World Cup.

In case the Belgian association is seriously considering Henry, there are few good things about the former Arsenal man. First of all, he knows the team inside out. This is his second stint with the Belgian squad. He joined Martinez’s stuff for the first time in 2016 and oversaw their third-place finish at the World Cup. After failure in Monaco (2018) and Montreal (resigned in 2021 due to home sickness), Henry returned to the Belgian squad in May 2021 and stayed until now. 

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Henry is not a high earner with the football association, which is always good when somebody is doing calculations. In his first period he received about 100,000 euros a year. Those pennies went entirely to charity. The Frenchman earns much more from his work as an analyst. Sky paid him about 5 million euros a year for his analyses. Roberto Martinez earned - including bonuses - about 3 million euros a year. Martinez was also technical director. The next national coach will almost certainly fall into a lower salary category and according to the reports, the former Arsenal man is still interested.

And for one, Romelu Lukaku has no doubts about Henry’s role with the Belgium national team.

“For me Henry is the next coach of Belgium. There are no doubts. I say it openly: he will be the next coach. He has the respect of all the players and has won everything. He knows how to coach, he knows what we have to do to get there. He knows the team, the league, the staff...For me he is the ideal coach for our national team” said the Chelsea striker for Sky Italia.