The return of the King

Conventional wisdom is that you never go back - to your old football club, to your old girlfriend, to a one-night-stand, to Dundee.

There are plenty of examples of players rejoining clubs both successfully and unsuccessfully. In recent days plenty have thrown out examples of both ''Veron'', ''Rush'', ''Juninho'' et al.

To me, the most obviously analogous example is perhaps an odd one. Johan Cruyff, aged 34, returned to Ajax where he helped them to win the league title twice in succession.

Henry is a very fine player but he is no Cruyff. There are similarities Cruyff, too, had spent years playing at a supposedly lower level in the United States and in the Spanish Second Division. Cruyff too was returning to a club where he had become a legend - indeed, one could argue that without Cruyff there would be no Ajax but there would equally no Ajax without Cruyff).  

Further both are probably the greatest player ever to play for their respective clubs and therefore returning to their former club is particularly momentous. The potential for disappointment is larger than for mere mortals. The potential for tainting an illustrious history or destroying a legacy is ever-present. It is worrying for those of us who appreciate narrative in football. Only those with a taste for schadenfreude on toast want a man who has just a statue erected at Ashburton Grove to fail. None of us really want an unhappy ending.

Happily, I can't see that happening.

There are many arguments to be made in favour of buying players in their thirties but as this is a very short-term deal, specifically to replace strikers going to the African Cup of Nations, those arguments do not need to be made here. 
Henry is both physically and psychologically fit and scored a decent whack of goals in the MLS last season (a goal around every two games in 2011). Some of the slurs against the MLS in some UK press outlets have been astonishing. It is not Premiership standard but, at the same time, it is not as far away as many would have us believe.

Henry's move will give Arsenal fans a lift in the same way that Fowler's return boosted Liverpool fans morale. A feel-good factor amongst the fans is no bad thing. Henry's brief return will provide useful cover and, to be honest, he can't possibly be worse than Chamakh. Henry's return may be the first step to him returning to the club in some level of coaching capacity - and, one would hope, that some of his magic dust will rub off on the occasionally wayward Theo Walcott.

Henry will add a lot to the dressing room at an important time for Arsenal  - this is a man who has won almost everything in the game in England, in Spain and at international level. He will bring a cool head and bucketloads of experience to Arsenal. Arsenal will be the better for that in the tight race for third in the league. All of a sudden Arsenal have a player who has been there, done that and got the hastily printed commemorative t-shirt. That's invaluable.

It is unlikely that Henry will hit the heights of his first spell at Arsenal. No one, bar the swivel-eyed loons in the Arsenal support, is expecting him to do so. He will, however, be a massively useful presence on the training ground and in the dressing room. That might be enough. If he scores a couple of goals, he will have more than justified this extremely well-calculated gamble of Mr. Wenger.

RCM