Thierry Henry lost out in the three-man contest for Fifa world player of the year to his France teammate Zinedine Zidane yesterday but Arsenal's striker vowed he "will be back" and intends to do that as a Highbury player.
Henry was widely favoured, at least in this country, to win and become the first player from an English club to capture the global accolade since it was inaugurated in 1991. But he finished second to Zidane, who took the award for a third time, although he had the satisfaction of beating Ronaldo, another Real Madrid player, into third.
The Arsenal striker picked up 186 points from the votes of the 142 national coaches in the poll, 21 picking him in first place, and 22 in second. But Zidane finished well ahead, totalling 264, with 35 firstplace votes and 27 runnerup votes. Ronaldo, also a three-time winner, totalled 176, though he actually had five more first-place votes than Henry.
The most encouraging aspect of the day for Arsenal was Henry's pledge to the Gunners before the ceremony in Basle, following hard on the club's insistence their prized player was not for sale, to Chelsea or Real, at any price.
Henry returned the compliment: "I want to feel priceless for them and them to be proud of me. As long as people are happy with me at Arsenal, I want to stay there.
"I don't really know what is happening in the background with the transfers and money but I know what I want. Both me and Arsenal are on the same line.
"Arsenal gave me a hand when I was down. If I am among the last three for the world player of the year award, it is thanks to them."
Brazil's coach Carlos Alberto Parreira voted for Ruud van Nistelrooy, Sven- Goran Eriksson for Roberto Carlos, France's Jacques Santini for Paolo Maldini and Germany's Rudi Völler for Pavel Nedved, who was fourth.
