Thierry Henry reveals the number he’d have preferred before settling on iconic 14 shirt at Arsenal

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The number 14 shirt at Arsenal will always be synonymous with Gunners legend Thierry Henry, but it’s not actually his preferred number, apparently.

Speaking to former Arsenal team-mate Cesc Fabregas on an Instagram Live chat, as quoted by the Metro, Henry explained that he feels his number is really 12, which he always wore for the French national team.

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Henry says he wanted the 12 shirt because of legendary Dutch striker Marco van Basten donning it during his famous tournament at Euro 88, but Christopher Wreh had it at Arsenal when he joined.

The Frenchman says he didn’t want to take Wreh’s shirt so settled for 14, which has now become iconic at the Emirates Stadium.

Still, Henry did wear the 12 shirt in his brief second stint back at Arsenal in the 2011/12 season, and he also spoke about that with Fabregas as he enjoyed one of his finest moments for the club when he scored the winner against Leeds in his comeback game.

When Fabregas asked Henry about his favourite goal, he said: “The comeback goal, you know when I came back to play against Leeds for Arsenal.

“It was weird because I scored the goal as a fan. I never had the chance, you played for Barcelona because you were a fan when you were young, you went back, it’s different.

“And also the meaning. It was kind of weird. I came back with number 12, that’s my number actually. Fourteen is not my number. I took the number 14 at Arsenal because Christopher Wreh had number 12, so I didn’t want to take it off him.

“That’s the reason, I didn’t want to take it off him. That’s why when I came back, number 12 because of Marco van Basten at Euro 88.

“But you have to understand, I scored with 12 minutes to go on the clock, 78th minute. That was my 12th game against Leeds, that was my 12th goal, I’m wearing number 12 and we were just turning into 2012. So do you know what that means?”

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