Thierry Henry has achieved much in his career, from World Cup winner to Premiership titles. Any motive to leave the Emirates would be in order to clinch the one piece of prized silverware that he has not collected, the Champions  League.

It has been clear from the three front runners for his signature, Barcelona, AC Milan and Liverpool that these sides have what it takes to do just that (being, coincidentally, the last clubs to win the tournament). But is there really a good reason to believe this dream cannot be realised at his current club. Once Thierry ends his dawdling, Arsenal fans must be praying it is to stay at the Emirates. No matter how far along the rest of the squad has come the past couple seasons, or who they are linked with this summer, Arsenal without Henry is a far inferior side.

There can be no doubt that the last three years have seen a slow decline from the side that won the Premiership without losing a single game. True, they reached the Champions League final in 2006 and were unfortunate to lose late on to Barcelona. But the side that Henry finds himself in now is still far off the pace of Manchester United, Chelsea and even Liverpool (in Europe). Were Henry to leave it would cut short a legacy that has seen him become one of the greatest ever players to wear an Arsenal shirt and he would do well to stay longer than the likes of Patrick Viera and Robert Pires, who left for different reasons, and help bring along the wealth of talent that is building at the Emirates.

'The emerging list of Arsenal players who show real promise is staggering'


But Arsenal have a set of players who, in the course of the next three or four years (or even sooner), will become more powerful than the 'big three'. And, more importantly, they will achieve this without having spent astronomical amounts of cash on players, money that was instead spent on their awesome new stadium. What Arsene Wenger has achieved is quite incredible and I feel it is an achievement far and away superior to the bankrolling antics of Chelsea.

The list of emerging players who show real promise is staggering, Gael Clichy, Robin Van Persie, Denilson, Vassiriki Diaby, Johan Djourou, Cesc Fabregas, Niklas Bendtner to name but a handful. Arsenal still tore teams apart last season but suffered from some strange collective inability to finish. More training and a bit of confidence and those 1-1 results become 4-1. Henry himself would even be the primary benefactor when he's healthy again.

When you consider that Henry, at 29, still has a good three or four years at the highest level, he would provide the perfect combination of class and experience to help bring these youngsters on and, likewise, these hot prospects will give Henry a very real chance to be part of an exciting new era that is surely just around the corner at the Emirates. What better way to become a true Arsenal legend than to ensure the successful transition between his generation of players and the next?

I imagine that Arsenal are doing all they can to keep Thierry in the right half of north London and that now the decision rests with the genius himself. He has been quoted as being deeply upset at the David Dein fiasco but he would do well to wait out the storm as Dein may well return in due course.

I credit Thierry as not the kind of person who is simply chasing a bigger pay packet and therefore any motivation to leave Arsenal will be based entirely on footballing reasons. And for those reasons alone he must realise that the future is bright . . . the future is Arsenal.