Super Eagles defender, Leon Balogun reveals what Thierry Henry made him do at Brighton

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.

“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.