'Ferguson once lost chance to sign Thierry Henry before he joined Arsenal'

The former head of security at Manchester United has claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson once passed up the opportunity to sign Thierry Henry before the striker joined Arsenal after ruling him as too injury prone.

Henry is a legendary figure at the Gunners with his record 228 goals in from 375 games for the club, including 92 assists, helping them become a major force in the early 2000s capped by their unbeaten season during the 2003-04 campaign,

But according to Ned Kelly, who as well as being a former head of security acted as a body guard for Ferguson as well as David Beckham and Eric Cantona, the French forward was initially eager to move to Old Trafford.

'In the tunnel after the game my phone goes, Eric's older brother Jean-Marie says, 'Ned, tell Alex [Ferguson] that Thierry Henry wants to come to the club',' Kelly told beIN Sports.

'Now this was before he went to Arsenal, his first choice was Manchester United. So I go to the boss and say, 'boss, I've just had Jean-Marie Cantona on the phone, he had said Henry wants to come to the club'.

'He [Ferguson] says, 'no way, he's always f****** injured'. He went to Arsenal, the rest is history.'

Having been struggling at Juventus out on the wing, Henry moved to Arsenal in 1999 for £11million.

The forward was slow getting to grips with the Premier League with just two goals in over three months before eventually hitting the net regularly during his stay at the club.

After helping Arsenal to two Premier League titles and three FA Cups, he eventually left for Barcelona in 2007 before making a cameo loan return to the Emirates Stadium in 2012 near the end of his career when he scored three times in seven games.