Thierry Henry admits he would've liked to have played under Jose Mourinho because the Special One would've been able to "wind him up".
The Arsenal great, who came up against Mourinho's Chelsea side on numerous occasions, spent the entirety of his time in England playing under Arsene Wenger, considered to be among the greatest Premier League managers.
He also worked under Pep Guardiola at Barcelona but has name checked the current Roma boss as a manager he'd have liked to work with when quizzed on CBS Sports. It came as a surprise to colleague Jamie Carragher, who cited Mourinho's perceived negative style.
Henry dismissed those concerns and instead highlighted Mourinho's willingness to challenge his players as something that would've worked with him. He said: "I would've liked him to upset me sometimes, because he was like that." The Frenchman also added: "He wasn't scared of taking a player off at half-time or trying to wind me up, because sometimes I needed that."
The former Arsenal man scored a brace against Mourinho the first time they came up against each other in England. The Gunners were then defending champions are drew 2-2 with the Blues, but the Special One played his mind games by suggesting Henry only scored in the lesser games.
He would go on to open the scoring with a brilliantly taken volley before adding a second with a quickly taken free-kick. After the game Henry joked: “Like everyone says, I always score in small games, so I think today must have been a small game again. That’s the way it is.”
HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Mourinho ever work in the Premier League again? Comment below.
Mourinho has revealed that, before he hit the big time, he could have been coaching Henry had Barcelona been successful in securing his signature in the mid-1990s. He told TalkSport: "When I was an assistant in Barcelona with Mr [Bobby] Robson in 1996 [we tried to sign him]. He was in Monaco and he went to Juventus, we lost him by an inch.
"After that he was not on my radar because it was never a possibility to come to my teams. Could you imagine in that moment leaving Arsenal to come to Chelsea? I wouldn't imagine that. He's the kind of player that you need forever, especially in the Premier League where he was more than any other place.
"He was okay in Barcelona and the [French] national team, but the real Thierry Henry, the player that we are all going to miss forever, is the one that made unbelievable seasons and incredible history in the Premier League."
