Thierry Henry

“That is something that I always want to do when I arrive somewhere is to know about the culture of the country, about the club and make sure I know what it takes to wear the jersey.”

“But, at the moment, when I step on the pitch, when I have the ball I know it's mine. It's just a feeling.”

“It's difficult to talk about Pele because I didn't see him.”

“No, because retiring is stopping. If I wanted to stop, I would have stopped.”

“When I was 20 or 21, I didn't... I won't say care about anything, but you're like in your own world - you made something that you always wanted to do, and then you kind of think only about your family and yourself.”

“In football you always get judged on your last game. Whoever you are, or how amazing you are, it's the last game that everyone has seen.”

“I always think about what I missed, and I think that was my driving force - never be satisfied with what I've done.”

“Sometimes in football you have to score goals.”

“I have to say that when I was young, when any politician was talking I wasn't even interested. Maybe they were saying some nice stuff, but then if you put Michael Jordan on TV, I was interested!”

“I've always loved New York; I've been visiting New York since 1996. People don't look at you like, 'What are you doing? What are you wearing?' There is also that thing that when people know that you have worked hard to get something, people have that respect for that here. You worked hard - good for you.”

“The thing is, don't get me wrong, I still love scoring and I hate to lose but now I see myself more as making players play better. Sometime you do what you have to do and you have to perform, that is still there, but in my mind I am thinking about making the guys around me play better and that is never an easy thing to do.”

“Because that's just the way it is, and don't sleep on what you did before, you know, because it can... not hurt you, but you can find yourself sleeping on something that happened in the past, but you dare to progress and there is always room for progression.”

“I'm obsessed by the idea of making my mark on history. And Arsenal is my paradise.”

“I've followed the NBA religiously since I was a kid, and now because of my boy Tony Parker, I'm a huge Spurs fan.”

“And I don't really like golf. I know a lot of English footballers play, but I know that if I go with the club to play, sooner or later I will end up trying to smash the ball with my foot.”

“Baseball and American football and hockey are all ahead because they have a history. The MLS is kind of new. So hopefully, in time, and with players coming and trying to develop the game, and the U.S. team also doing well - at the last World Cup, they finished above England and created some buzz.”

“I always have a football handy at home, and I'll play with it. Sometimes it'll get on my wife's nerves. But the moment I've got a ball at my feet, I'm happy.”

“To be a footballer was just a dream, and I don't believe in dreams. I only deal in what is real. To be honest, I've never thought about what I could get out of football or where it would take me. I just wanted to play. I'm the same now.”