Former Arsenal defender Lee Dixon has revealed the details of a conversation with Thierry Henry about Manchester United forward Anthony Martial.
Martial was compared to the French legend when he arrived at Old Trafford in 2015, but has failed to live up to such high expectations in the five years since his switch from Monaco.
The 24-year-old was finally beginning to show some consistency in the striker role before the coronavirus postponement.
He has scored 11 Premier League goals in 22 starts this term, also contributing three assists.
Henry has drawn comparisons from when he joined Arsenal in 1999 and Martial signing for United.
READ MORE: (Watch) Odion Ighalo’s stunner wins Man United goal of the month award
“I talked about that with him [Henry] recently,” Dixon told Arsenal podcast Handbrake Off, as quoted by Manchester Evening News.
“I said, ‘What he’s like?’ and he looked at me with that look that he does as if to say: ‘Have I not already spoken to you about this?’
“And he said, ‘He’s exactly like I was when I came to Arsenal. He needs to go through the process like I did with you lot and I don’t know if the Manchester United dressing room is like that’.
“He (Henry) said that was the making of him.
“To liken himself to Martial or another player to him, it really painted a picture of what Martial was like and what his character was like because he’s super-talented like Thierry was and I think his development would have been similar.
“I’m not saying he would have been as good as Thierry – but would have been similar if he had been in the old United dressing room with the characters like what we had in our dressing room.
“He certainly talks about that as a real learning lesson in his curve to get how brilliant he was.”
Vote for Stretty News!
Stretty News is running in this year’s Football Content Awards at Tottenham’s stadium. Even though the event itself is in doubt after the coronavirus outbreak, you can still cast your vote for the Premier League’s Best Club Content Creator.
You can also vote via Instagram and Twitter — find out how here.
