UNITED KINGDOM: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Thierry Henry speaks about Ashley Cole, Chelsea, Franck Ribery -- and his own motivation

Arsenal captain Thierry Henry has resigned himself to losing team mate and friend Ashley Cole to Chelsea, but will not stop pleading with him to stay, he said on Thursday (August 10). Cole is a big target for Premier League rivals Chelsea, but Arsenal have so far turned down bids believed to be in the region of 16 million pounds (30.4 million) for the left back. "Seeing Ashley (Cole) leaving will be upsetting for me because I've played with him for a long time. I went through joy and pain with him and you know, as a friend also, that would be upsetting for me to see him go, like when Dennis (Bergkamp) stopped it was difficult to see; when Patrick (Vieira) left, same thing; Robert (Pires) and Sol (Campbell), you know, they are great guys to be around. But on the other side, I don't think it did affect the team or will affect the team," Henry told Reuters Television in London on Thursday (August 10). Chelsea look like being the side to beat in the Premiership again this season, with or without Cole. "To win is going to be really tough because Chelsea has won the title back-to-back now and you know, they are a great team. But we are going to try to have a go at them. I don't think we will be the only team. We want to bring the title back here, you know, Chelsea is also going to be a very difficult team to beat," said the Arsenal skipper. Asked about a possible move to Arsenal by his France team mate Franck Ribery of Olympique de Marseille, Henry commented: "Obviously if Franck (Ribery) has to come here I will welcome him. But I don't know what is happening really. I can hear a lot of stuff and read a lot of stuff, but obviously he will be a major asset for any team who can grab him. But I don't know if he is going to leave there so..." Having lost the World Cup final to Italy on penalties, Henry insisted it is the future that counts, not the past. "You lose the final of the World Cup or even if you win it, you have to come back here and start something new. So that's what it's all about in football. You always have to make sure that you will be good in the game that is going to come, not in the game that you played before, because people and the Press or whatever, they don't -- actually it doesn't matter if you were good before -- they want to know how good you are going to be next and that's what keeps me going," said the Arsenal captain. Aside from the lift of the 60,000 crowds they can now expect at their new home, the four-year contract signed by Thierry Henry means the club's most prolific scorer will be staying on. Henry, the Premier League's top marksman in four of the last five seasons, will again be the focal point of an Arsenal attack that could still do with another top quality striker. Arsenal begin their new era at the Emirates Stadium against Aston Villa next week with a reshuffled side that has everything to prove in the Premier League this season. Henry is part of the France squad for a friendly against Bosnia in Sarajevo on August 16. The match will be France's first outing since losing the World Cup final to Italy on penalties in Berlin in July.

ITN Source | August 11, 2006

Tags:. .losing. .lose. .won. .stuff. .himself