Lionel Messi may have won the 2021 Ballon d'Or, but his spell at Paris Saint-Germain has started slowly after he joined the club from Barcelona over the summer.
PSG have started the season healthily, racing clear at the top of Ligue 1 and making it through to the last 16 of the Champions League, but things haven't yet clicked for their marquee signing.
Following a tearful farewell to Barcelona, the Argentina forward has scored just six times for the French club, with only one of those coming in Ligue 1.
Now, former Barcelona and Arsenal striker Thierry Henry - an ex-teammate at Camp Nou - has sympathised with the 34-year-old, having gone through a similar transition during his own playing career.
And he has suggested Messi's struggles may go beyond the adjustments he has or hasn't made on the pitch.
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Messi had been with the Catalan club since the age of 13, winning multiple domestic and European titles.
"This is really difficult for me after so many years, being here my entire life," Messi said upon leaving Barcelona. "I'm not ready for this. This year, my family were convinced we were going to stay here at home.
Now Henry, who spent the best part of a decade at Arsenal, winning the league title in 2002 and 2004, has likened his Arsenal exit to Messi's situation.
"When you leave a place that you've been at a young age for a very long time, that you never thought you were going to leave, it takes a lot out of you emotionally," Henry told GQ.
"You need to realize and understand where you are, adapt to a new league and adapt to a new team and digest the move.
"You saw he cried when he left, those were not fake tears. He cried. It takes a little time to adapt and understand, even if you are him. But you need to understand that the guy is a human being also. And that emotionally, sometimes, we all do get touched by something.
"Leaving Barcelona, it's still raw for him. But I believe he will turn it over. I hope he will turn it up. I'm confident in him."
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While Messi has joined a star-studded team in Paris, with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in the front three with him, Henry suggested the quality of player in the new environment doesn't take away the challenge of adapting to different surroundings.
Henry himself joined a stacked Barcelona side in 2007, with a young Messi on the club's books as well as the likes of Samuel Eto'o, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, but even he was unable to adapt immediately.
"[It was the] same with me when I left Arsenal to go to Barcelona, it took me a minute to get used to my surroundings," he explained
"I never thought that I was going to leave Arsenal, so joining Barcelona... Was I in a great club, in a great town? Hell yeah. But it took me a little time to digest it."
