“It felt strange, it has changed a lot since then, a lot of emotions, a lot of stories, anecdotes that come back,” said the 1998 world champion in a press conference before leading his players for the first time in a training session.
“I grew up here, I really grew up here. We stayed here, we slept here. We passed by the building of the INF (National Football Institute, Editor’s Note), I stopped, looked, thought and left,” he added, concluding on the subject: “Coming back here as a coach is just crazy.”
Les Bleuets (French national U21 team) are playing a friendly match against Denmark on Thursday in Nancy, before the first qualifying match for Euro 2025 on September 11th in Slovenia.
Henry only kept a few players who were present at Euro 2023 this summer (eliminated in the quarterfinals), all born in 2002, including Rayan Cherki, Bradley Barcola, Arnaud Kalimuendo, and Elye Wahi.
In Nancy, more than 10,000 spectators are expected, Henry pointed out, proof that his arrival gives the U21 team a whole new dimension. The former Arsenal striker is aware of this.
“I can see it well, I also played in the U21s and I know that there weren’t as many people for a press conference,” Henry explained. “That’s how it is, I’m not going to change what I did before, and it’s good for the team too, to have people at the stadium, to make the players feel more involved, it’s pleasing.”
Less than a year before the Olympics, and with the Federation’s goal being a podium finish, Henry prefers to take things step by step: “It’s difficult to talk about the Olympics, I understand the excitement, it’s extraordinary, but right now I’m thinking about Denmark, to find a coherent team, that can also be coherent against Slovenia.”
“But if we talk about the event, it’s extraordinary, Marie-José Pérec, (Laura) Flessel, the Barjots, I grew up with that,” he confessed. “I’m forgetting some, sorry, we also saw Olympic medals in football (Winner in 1984, Editor’s Note). It’s extraordinary, it doesn’t happen all the time, but you have to prepare for the European Championship.”
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