Henry ‘agrees’ to replace Bruce

ASTON VILLA have reportedly reached an agreement with Thierry Henry to become their new manager. Henry was Roberto Martinez’s assistant as Belgium reached the World Cup semifinals this summer. The former Arsenal and France striker recently stepped down from his role as a pundit in order to pursue a career in management. And according to the Henry has ‘verbally agreed’ to become the new boss at Villa Park. Bruce remains in charge of the Championship side but the report claims that new majority shareholders Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens are unsure if he can lead the Villans back to the Premier League. The club missed out on promotion to the top flight last term at the hands of Fulham in the Championship playoff final. Villa are keen to go down the same route as another Midlands club, Derby, in appointing an unproven former Premier League star after Frank Lampard was announced as their new manager earlier this summer.

But the Daily Star adds that Henry wants assurances over his transfer budget and his salary before taking on the role.

During his playing career, the 40-year-old lifted more than 35 major individual and team trophies including the World Cup, European Championship, Premier League, La Liga and Champions League. Following his departure from

Henry said: “Over the last four years I have had some extremely rewarding coaching experiences in football.

“These experiences have only made me more determined to fulfil my long-term ambition to become a football manager.

“It is with sadness, therefore, that I have decided that I must leave

to enable me to spend more time on the pitch and concentrate on my journey to achieving that goal.

“I would like to thank everyone at Sky for making me feel so welcome and at ease throughout my time with them and I wish them all the best for the future. Great memories.” – *Express Newspapers