Henry's heart told him to stay on

After much ado, French striker signs a new four-year contract with Arsenal.

LONDON: Arsenal captain Thierry Henry signed a new four-year contract on Friday, pledging his future to the north London club just two days after they lost the Champions League final to Barcelona. "At one point the thought (of leaving) crossed my mind. My heart told me to stay," the 28-year-old France international, who had been linked with a move to the Spanish champions, said. One of the most coveted strikers in the world, Henry has kept Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and fans on tenterhooks for months by postponing his decision until after the season's end.

"The club, the fans — I couldn't let them down. The love that the fans showed me was more than amazing," he said. The best striker in the world, according to Wenger, Henry joined Arsenal from Juventus in 1999. He will now also lead the club out at their new 60,000-capacity Emirates Stadium after they ended a 93-year association with Highbury. The brave Arsenal performance in Wednesday's 2-1 defeat by Barcelona in Paris, when they played most of the match with 10 men after goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off, was instrumental in helping make up Henry's mind. "I wanted to get into the Champions League final. Once that was done I was pretty quick to make up my mind," said Henry, who has an English wife.

"There is a lot of potential here. My team showed me I didn't have to leave. They showed me they had heart," he told Friday's edition of The Sun newspaper.