Ex-Arsenal star's Perfect XI doesn't include Thierry Henry, despite him being a hero

Thierry Henry, a true Arsenal legend, is indisputably one of the greatest players to have ever worn the club's jersey. With an impressive record of 226 goals in 370 games, he played a pivotal role in securing numerous trophies during his illustrious eight-year tenure at Arsenal.

But while the Frenchman had such a profound impact on the club, one of his former team-mates failed to select him in his Perfect XI - a team made up of his favourite team-mates during his career.

That's despite Henry acting as a hero to the former Arsenal player in question, with Robin van Persie instead preferred as the sole centre-forward...

Arsenal hero selects Robin van Persie over Thierry Henry

“Henry was my hero but I played far more with Robin, who made finishing seem really easy," Theo Walcott tells FourFourTwo. "When you talk about players who have a wand of a left foot, he genuinely had that. He scored some iconic goals and made my life so much easier on the right.”

In total, Walcott played with Henry for a year and a half across the Frenchman's two spells at Arsenal, though the majority of that was as a 17-year-old.

Elsewhere in his team, Walcott selects Joe Hart in goal, a back four of Bacary Sagna, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Ashley Cole, with the left-back helping him settle in when he first moved to Arsenal. Though he spent the same amount of time with Cole, Walcott highlights how coming up against him in training really helped him to improve.

“He looked after me at Arsenal, I’ll never forget that, and he’s probably the best left-back in Premier League history," Walcott explains. "We often practised one-on-ones and it was difficult to get past him. I’d watch him do drills with Thierry Henry after training. Thierry used to say what he was going to do before he did it, but Ashley always came out on top in those battles.”

Get FourFourTwo Newsletter

The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Further forward, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney form an attacking three-man midfield, with Cesc Fabregas sitting alongside Gerrard.

“Cesc just knew what to do when he had the ball," Walcott adds. "He played the game at his pace, he was the conductor and he learned from the players and managers around him. He’s since fed that into his coaching at Como.”

The player he seems most impressed with, however, was Alexis Sanchez.

“Alexis was different – he came to training with weights on his ankles and loved to practise stepovers," he says. "You couldn’t keep him off the grass. He’d be shooting, shooting, shooting and the boss would keep staring at him, but he’d think, ‘No, I’m doing my thing’.”