Arsenal legend and former France international, Thierry Henry is set to finally realise his ambition of calling the shots as a club manage after he impressed the owners of English Championship side Aston Villa in an interview for their top job.
Daily Mail reports that Henry has been found good enough to replace Steve Bruce as Villa manager, while Chelsea legend, John Terry who was also interview will be employed as the assistant manager.
Terry has been playing for Villa since last season, not it’s not yet known if he will migrate to a coach/player role or announce his retirement from active football.
According to Daily Mail, both superstars were interviewed for the post as manager, but Henry’s greater experience got him the nod.
The duo have been told they are expected to win promotion to the Premier League ‘sooner rather than later’.
The news is likely to thrill Villa’s hardcore support, who had grown frustrated with life under Steve Bruce.
Henry, Belgium’s assistant coach, has worked with Roberto Martinez during the World Cup and made it clear he wanted the top role in talks with the Aston Villa owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens.
Ex-Chelsea skipper Terry was said to be humble in conversations with the Villa board and was also believed to be concerned about stepping into the shoes of Steve Bruce, who took him to Villa Park as a player last season. He described Bruce as ‘a great man’
In a recent Sportsmail interview, Terry thanked Bruce for taking him to Villa Park, where he made 32 league appearances last season and took Villa into the Play-off Final.
It is not known at this stage if Terry will play on or is about to announce his retirement as a player.
The pair have made more than 1,100 top-flight appearance between them and have won trophies including league titles, FA Cups and European Cups.
Legendary Arsenal goalscorer Henry made 254 Premier League appearances and Terry 492 — but now the rookie management duo have to show what they can do in the dug-out.
Terry has been working with junior Chelsea teams as a coach and recently took charge of an Under 19 game. He turned down the chance of a move to Spartak Moscow.
Terry’s know-how of the Villa dressing room is the reason why Henry has agreed to work with him. Henry is excited about the chance of working with Jack Grealish, who was mentored by Terry last season.
Villa find themselves in 15th place in the league and lost 2-1 at Millwall on Saturday. They are eight points of the top three, but only six points off the bottom three.