Mat Ryan: Thierry Henry made me Arsenal fan

Mat Ryan has revealed that watching former Gunners legend Thierry Henry made him join the league of Arsenal supporters

Ryan, currently on-loan from Brighton, can remember the precise moment when, growing back in Australia, he became an Arsenal fan.

“I was a young kid at my friend’s house and we were watching television at the time and on came a documentary of Thierry Henry,” the goalkeeper told Arsenal.com.

“Being a football lover, and my friend and I sat there watching and we were just in awe of his achievements and what he was doing in this documentary. It was obviously a montage of highlights, of goals he’d scored and the success he’d helped contribute to at Arsenal with what they’d won in those times.

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“From that moment on, I basically fell in love with him and the club and became an Arsenal supporter. I have been, I was going to say until this day, but I guess when I was down there in Brighton and signed there, you guys became a rival.

“So I guess a little less so then, but it’s still a club that had a special place in my heart and now even more so than it ever has in the past because I’ve got the opportunity to represent them now.”