Henry’s first impression of Rooney before he kicked a ball left him saying “wow”
Thierry Henry has admitted that he was in awe of Wayne Rooney before he even saw him kick a ball.
Rooney shot onto the scene as a 16-year-old at Everton when he bagged a spectacular last-minute winner to end a 30-plus game unbeaten run of Arsenal.
Henry was part of the previously all-conquering Arsenal team that day and admits that he was left staggered by Rooney before the game kicked off.
"People talk in the game, we knew there was a young kid who was going to score goals and has the body of a man," Henry said, speaking on the new Amazon Prime Video documentary, Rooney.
"When I saw him, I was like 'woah, how old is he? Sixteen?'
"When you looked at his body and you could see the power, just with him walking.
"Sometimes you catch eyes with players and straight away you know what they are about – and you got that with Wayne Rooney.
"You looked at him and you knew he wanted to succeed. He wanted to destroy everything in front of him."
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Manchester United legend Gary Neville had a similar first impression of Rooney just weeks earlier, when the pair were pitted against each other in a reserve team game.
Neville recalled: "I played against him as a 16-year-old in a reserve team game.
"He booted me and David May and I couldn't believe it. I knew he was a dirty little b * d.
"He played like a street kid from the minute he came into Everton.
"He fought for every ball, jumped for every header, went full-bloodied into every tackle.
"He defended for his life, attacked for his life and just threw everything onto the football pitch.
"When you align that with the incredible talent, that is why he was so special."
Rooney is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video from Friday 11th February.
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