Super Eagles defender, Leon Balogun, has revealed that his admiration for Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry, made him pick the number 14 shirt at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Balogun grew up as an Arsenal fan in Germany, before joining the Seagulls last summer on a free transfer from Mainz 05.
The 30-year-old said that Henry, who has cemented his place as a Premier League legend after scoring 175 goals in 258 games, made him fall in love with the Gunners
“It was mainly because of Thierry Henry as I loved his style of play. He was so elegant in the way he moved for a tall striker, which fascinated me, and of course he scored so many fantastic goals.
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“To this day he is my all-time favourite player and idol as well – I’ve read his autobiography and I wear the number 14 shirt because of him.
“I also liked his celebrations; they were arrogant in a way but you still loved him for that. He’s the reason why Arsenal caught my eye as a youngster, but of course I also enjoyed watching their other great players like Dennis Bergkamp, Freddie Ljungberg, Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira. They had a great team back then.
“Before I knew about Thierry I was actually a striker. I played for my first club as a nine-year-old and for the first two years I played up front, but then they moved me back into the defence!
“Even though I’ve played all my professional career as a defender, I have always admired skilful players: Ronaldinho and Zidane back in the day, the Arsenal players I mentioned, and now Neymar, [Kylian] Mbappe and, of course, [Lionel] Messi,” Balogun told Brighton’s official website.
