Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has defeated the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven Gerrard to be named as the greatest player of the Premier League era. Henry graced the field for the Gunners for eight years from 1999 to 2007....CONTINUE READING
The striker returned to the club after stints at FC Barcelona and New York Red Bulls for one-month loan spell in 2012.
In a survey carried out by Betfair, along with YouGov they asked 1,000 football fans to vote for their best player from the Premier League era as the competition turns 30 this year.
Henry emerged as the winner ahead of some of the finest players in Alan Shearer, Eric Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven Gerrard.
Arsenal invincible Thierry Henry voted as the Greatest of the Premier League
Thierry Henry helped Arsenal to two Premier League titles in 2001/02 and 2003/04.
More notably, the Frenchman was a crucial part of the ‘Arsenal Invincibles’ who went the full 03/04 season unbeaten in the league to lift the Premier League title.
Henry scored 30 goals in 37 league games that season which earned him one of his four golden boots as well.
In the survey conducted by Betfair, Henry bagged 15% of the votes to win the crown of the ‘greatest Premier League player’ of the era.
The striker finished with 175 goals in 258 Premier League appearances for the Gunners, also winning the player of the year twice in the process.
Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo bagged the second place behind Henry. Ronaldo returned to the Premier League last summer after he left United back in 2009.
The Portuguese has so far netted 102 goals in 226 Premier League games for United, also lifting the title in a three-peat from 2006 to 2009.
Premier League all-time top goal-scorer Alan Shearer, former United captain Eric Cantona and Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard rounded-off the top five by clinching the third, fourth and fifth spot respectively.
Shearer scored 260 Premier League goals across stints with Newcastle United and Blackburn, a record still unbroken.
The England international too lifted the title in the 1994/95 season with Blackburn. Cantona too was a dominant player for United who won five titles with the Red Devils.
Gerrard however is the only name on the list who never tasted a Premier League title win.
Nonetheless, the former Reds captain still managed 120 goals and 99 assists for Liverpool across a whopping 503 appearances in the English top flight.
