Hale End flop reveals big Thierry Henry regret, his Arsenal career could have been so much ‘different’

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Several former Arsenal academy players are succeeding at the very top level, and Nathan Tella is one of them.

Tella was released by Arsenal in 2017 after failing to make the grade alongside the likes of Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah.

After stints at Southampton and Burnley, the winger is now playing alongside Granit Xhaka at Bayer Leverkusen.

Tella never made a first-team appearance for Arsenal after 10 years in the Hale End academy, as he was a level below his peers, but he is now performing well and is mapping out a positive career path.

The winger has now revealed one regret about his time with Arsenal, and it is linked to the legendary Thierry Henry.

Nathan Tella admits regret over failing to utilise Thierry Henry as a coach at Arsenal

During his time in the Arsenal under-21s, Tella had Thierry Henry managing him as an assistant coach. Henry is arguably the greatest player in Arsenal’s history, and Tella has now told Rising Ballers about the regret he has that he did not learn enough from Henry.

“I think for me it was when I first got my scholarship at Arsenal, and then Thierry Henry became the assistant at the time, and in my head it was just like, ‘wow this is someone that I grew up watching’ and now I can ask him questions about how I played, what could I add to the game, what could I add to my game,” he stated.

“I’ll say I probably didn’t utilise it as much as I perhaps should have, and looking back on it if I had the opportunity to do that again, I would have, because there are things which I’ve learned at a later age which I probably could have learned or I’ve known at the age of 16 or 17 which maybe might have put my career on a different path.

“Ultimately I’m still happy with how it’s gone but just having the opportunity to work with someone like him, getting advice, even him joining in training sometimes and showing all of us how to finish, which was just quite funny.”

Thierry Henry was still a different level in Arsenal training even after retiring 

Tella has also explained how Henry was still remarkable in training even after retiring and beginning his coaching career.

“He saw the game in slow motion, like he could see runs which we were making and obviously you look at him as a striker, everyone looked at him as a striker, but sometimes people forget his playmaking ability,” Tella added.

“There were times in training sessions where he would play passes and I’m not ready for the pass, other players were not ready for the pass, but it’s gone where you would want the ball to go, so I did get a few moans from him sometimes, just trying to make the run, but no it was just great to work with him.”

Henry did not last long in the Arsenal youth setup, but is now managing the France under-23 side at the Olympics, having had coaching stints with the Belgium National Team, AS Monaco and Montreal Impact.

Whilst his managerial career has not yet been successful, Henry’s playing ability still shone even after hanging up his boots.