“He was choked and said nothing”: Henry teases Zaire-Emery

In Clairefontaine

When he talks about Warren Zaire-Emery, Thierry Henry does not hide the affection he shows for his former captain with the Espoirs. Now with the A's with the "big" Blues to experience his first selection, against Gibraltar on Friday or Tuesday, in Greece, the name of the Paris-SG midfielder is on everyone's lips this Monday at Clairefontaine. After Didier Deschamps, who answered numerous questions about his rookie, the coach of the France Espoirs team did the same in the Clairefontaine auditorium.

“I’m happy, happy for him,” he attests, smiling and proud of his former player’s trajectory. It is deserved. He outclassed himself. I gave him the armband, but it was obvious. I hope he stays in A all his life. He deserves it. When he plays with PSG, he is not far from being the best, apart from the monster (Mbappé) who I am not going to mention. The goal is for it to go up and stay there.” If he acknowledges having congratulated him by a text message, “because young people today do like that”, Thierry Henry returned to the video sequence unveiled by PSG at the time of the selection of Zaire-Emery last Thursday as a team of France.

SEE ALSO – When PSG players congratulate Zaire-Emery, 17, on his first call-up to the French team

Also read: “We’re taking 15 years with the Blues”: Warren Zaire-Emery, portrait of the new phenomenon of French football

“It’s an image that sums up Warren,” says the legend of the Blues and Arsenal on a video where we see the native of Montreuil quietly lying on a bed at the PSG training center before his partners invade the room and jump on him to congratulate him. I would have tried to run, jump, move out of bed. He doesn't. He stayed, didn't scream, got choked, he came out, calm, just red, he said well done and left. It's Warren. I found it funny but at the same time that sums it up. He is mature, measured.

Under the spell of his former protégé, Henry continues to talk about him, without even being prompted: “When I see him arriving at the castle, on the stairs, I have the impression that he has been there for a long time. He has something apart. It's been a long time since I've seen someone come to A and everyone was happy. He gives off something special, I don't know what it is. However, he doesn’t do a little bridge or a flip, but it’s contagious and you want to see him do it well.” From Saturday in Nice, against Gibraltar?