Henry’s nightmare spell at Monaco indicates that Aston Villa had a lucky break

Add as preferred source on Google

When Steve Bruce was sacked by Aston Villa in the early part of the season, a muddled recruitment process ensued and the club’s hopes of reaching the Championship play-offs looked bleak.

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry emerged as the favourite to take over in early October, before he opted to return to France by joining his former club Monaco instead.

But Henry has reportedly been sacked – at the very least, he has been suspended – having failed to bring about meaningful change with the Ligue 1 club, who are set to take the rare step of reinstating his predecessor Leonardo Jardim.

After Henry’s snub, Villa of course went back in for boyhood supporter Dean Smith – who should have been the primary choice all along.

Smith engineered some early improvement before the lack of defensive depth Bruce left him began to bite. But he has brought Villa within striking distance of the play-offs, something which was not on the cards when Bruce left Villa Park.

Henry’s spell at Monaco suggests that Villa dodged a bullet – more by the luck of him snubbing the job than their own judgement – and they are much better off in the more experienced hands of Smith.

He has reconnected the fans with the club, brought in a more attractive style of play and given Villa hope of reaching the top six; Henry’s scarring experience in France indicates he would have struggled badly to do similar.