Dubliner Ampadu going to Monaco with Henry

THIERRY HENRY will make a fairytale start to his life as a manager after signing a three-year deal to manage Monaco, the club where he began his professional career as a player back in 1994 – and ex-Ireland Under 21 player Kwame Ampadu is going with him.

Monaco are 18th in the French topflight after winning one of their first nine Ligue 1 games. They are 19 points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain while they also lost their first two Champions League group games against Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

Leonardo Jardim was sacked by Monaco this week but the former coach was handicapped by another year of significant sales in the summer transfer window.

Henry (right) rebuffed advances from Aston Villa and Bordeaux during the opening months of this campaign but was lured by the attraction of returning to Monaco – the club he joined at 16 and for whom he made 142 appearances.

Henry has been assured of a significant transfer budget while he also told Monaco officials that he is committed to the club’s policy of developing young talent.

Henry has prised the Dublin-raised Ampadu, an Under 18 coach at Arsenal and the father of Chelsea’s Walesh midfielder Ethan, away from the London club and he has added Benfica’s Under 23 coach Joao Carlos Tralhao to his backroom staff. Negotiations are continuing with Rennes’ reserve coach Julien Stephan, who Henry hopes will be his assistant. Henry, 41, will begin with a visit to Strasbourg next week and comes up against former Arsenal team-mate Patrick Vieira when Monaco host Nice in December.

Henry said: ‘I was fortunate to receive some very attractive offers over the past few months but Monaco will always be close to my heart. Having started my footballing career at this great club, it felt like fate that I now begin my managerial career here too.’