The news may have come as a surprise, and the press release was released on Monday afternoon. Thierry Henry has left his position as coach of the French U21 team, one year before the end of his contract, to ” personal reasons.
Does he have a new position in mind, which would have prompted him to break his lease at the head of Espoirs? Apparently not. “It seems that he is not leaving for another professional project, at least not immediately, and that his decision is more linked to weariness and the realization that it will be difficult to do better.”explains L’Equipe.
The Olympic Games have left their mark
The Olympic Games were a very strong emotional experience, whether on the pitch, with the great adventure up to the final and this very honourable silver medal, or in the locker room, with a great connection between Henry, the legend of the Blues, and his young players.
Clearly, the former Arsenal player did not see himself starting a new campaign, with Euro 2025. The position of coach of the Espoirs is not easy. You have to build a team in a short time, with young players, and renew it very frequently. Henry would also have suffered from the pre-Olympic period, where it was necessary to fight to convince the clubs to give up their players.
During this episode, Henry would have felt “sometimes too alone”according to L’Equipe, and some refusals would have been difficult to take. Not necessarily those of Atlético and Real for Griezmann and Mbappé, but the cases of Bradley Barcola and Warren Zaïre-Emery, selected for Euro 2024, where they played little or not at all.
