He was with Juve for half a season. Just because he was able to blossom in England did not mean he would do the same in Italy. Also, that was the season Juve finished 7th as Lippi had agreed to take over Inter the next season. Ancelotti took over in February. So Henry played on the wing. He was not impressive. Moggi got rid of him. No need to make excuses for Henry's indifferent attitude with Juve.
You could tell that Henry was a player. He developed into one of the finest in the world. It's absurd to think that he wouldn't have done well in Italy, or anywhere else for that matter. That one is clearly on Carletto and management. Setting that aside, there is no question Carletto is among the world's best. Though, as others have stated, I'm not sure we ever see him back here.
I've always said that just because a player does well at one club doesn't necessarily mean that he would do well at any other club. That sort of reasoning is simplistic. This reminds me of how Man U fans used to whine about how Pogba would have been a star with them had he not joined Juventus. The Frenchman certainly made a name for himself in Turin, but has he managed to pull up trees in Mamchester? I think the jury is still out on that one. Henry definitely exploded at Arsenal. Would he have been as dominant in Serie A? I'm not so sure. I will say that for all of Henry's brilliance, he had a tendency to pick and choose which games he showed up for. That, and for a striker, he was somewhat too altruistic.
Two can play that game. Just because he was played out of position for half a season doesn't mean he couldn't have blossomed playing in his more natural position at Juve. Play someone out of their position and you can see how unimpressive they are.
He was just unimpressive. Maybe he did not care to be here. It was not as if he was played as a defender. One would see qualities in a winger that would be found in a striker. Henry did not show it that short season and who knows what he showed in training. So management shipped him out. In the end, it was not as if he was missed. Del Piero, Trezeguet and other strikers did not leave us empty.
Let's not act like Rugani has been all that impressive this season, he hasn't. I can't wait for Caldera to get here, I rate him higher than Rugani.
Tuttosport reports that he will start today. I have to agree that he hasn't been overly impressive this season. That he hasn't been able to cement the starting spot over Benatia is telling. There's still much time for him.
Caldara's reading of the game, now, at his age, is far superior to Bonucci's when he was that age. I believe that Caldara is the best central defensive talent Italy has produced in years, literally. I'm not all that worried about Rugani. It's not uncommon for CBs to reach their prime in their late twenties, even (Barzagli is a perfect example). Whether or not it will be with Juve, we shall see. But it's quite obvious that Caldara is the superior prospect. No question.
Caldara is amazing. I think he is going to be the best defender in the world in a few years. I am not sure about saying the next Cannavaro, but at least the level of Materazzi.
So the consecutive win streak ends at 7 games. I know that we were playing away from home against a good opponent, but what's with giving up a two-goal lead? And Dybala having his penalty saved? Allegri will be doing a lot of ruminating over the international break...
At that time, there was not much room for Henry. The confirmed starters were Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro Del Piero. Then you had Daniel Fonseca , Marcelo Zalayeta , Nicola Amoruso and Juan Esnáider as reserves. Zidane was a midfielder but also played as an attacker at times and then you had Darko Kovačević and David Trezeguet coming in subsequent seasons and I think they deemed Henry expendable. Exactly. There was no way would they have benched Pippo or ADP as they had won the 1997–98 scudetto all by themselves. I guess they could have kept Henry as well as Trezeguet after Pippo went to Milan but that was 1-2 years later and at that point , Delpiero will have been the odd man out and that wasn't going to happen.
Yeah ADP was hurt but they had already Trezeguet in mind. I still have the GDS where Juve or Roma had planned to sign David and he chose Juve. He had scored the winner against Italy in the 2000 Euro Cup final so he was destined to go to Italy. From what I recall while I was living in Italy, at the time, Ancelotti didn't care for Henry's style.
Even though Trezeguet is French-born and starred for Les Bleus, he was raised in Argentina and attributed his killer instinct to that South American culture. Argentines have a long history of doing well in Serie A. Henry's style was more suited to British football. As a Frenchman myself, I was happy and proud to have witnessed both Henry and Trezeguet go on to become legends with their clubs. Doing so as foreigners makes it all the more impressive.