My point on this is simple. For the French NT there is not even a debate between the 2. Mbappe way more influential on the big tournaments. The rest, at club level maybe French posters here are more suited to evaluate the 2 than me, even if I have my own opinion.
Who is the better player: Mbappe or Henry?
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Mbappé is alone as the all-time top scorer in WC finals with 4. He scored 8 goals in 6,5 games this tournament.
People thought Henry
Give Mbappe 3 years and he will be miles ahead anyway
It's about now. That's the issue with the debate. People are comparing Henry's whole career with the beginning of Mbappe's. Mbappe could get injured and never be able to produce what he currently is at the moment, so until that time, it has to be Henry clearly.
However, I do believe that Mbappe wouldn't need much to overtake Henry. At the moment, his international legacy is already set and will only grow exponentially. That will make a huge mark in the tale of his career. Henry would never have been able to put France on his back given how poor his teammates were playing. Mbappe did. His mentality is grade A and that alone will make him a far more impactful player than Henry.
PSG would need to win the Champions League consistently if he stays there, which is tough to do, for his club career to be recognized. It almost feels like he's denying us and himself the ability to write his club legacy by being at PSG at such a young age. All he needs to do is sign for a top club in a top league and I honestly feel that within two seasons his legacy might already be considered better than Henry's, despite not necessarily being the better player.
10 years time was too long maybe
Kylian is undoubtedly a better player than Henry compared to the same age. The most impressive thing about this kid is probably the mentality that is separated him from his contemporaries. He is only 23 years old, and I think he can develop a lot of departments to be better and better by every single day. He has already developed aerial skills and probably passing and crossing skills, I'm sure in the future he will be a 100 percent complete attacker. But anyway, he's a clutch player and mentality monster, and that can be separated from others. His game is also very effective. This guy is intelligent as hell in terms of positioning and has great off-ball movement. So, I doubt when he becomes older, he will not have trouble in adaptation his style of playing.
As I said first, you can look into his facial expression. He was not panicking even in the circumstances didn't suit the best to him. He has the mentality that" I can do and change the game by myself. That is the mentality of elite athletes like Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. In this mentality part, he is already better than Henry, and in terms of skills, he can be developed to be a better and better player(especially in passing skills). A generational talent
As I said first, you can look into his facial expression. He was not panicking even in the circumstances didn't suit the best to him. He has the mentality that" I can do and change the game by myself. That is the mentality of elite athletes like Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. In this mentality part, he is already better than Henry, and in terms of skills, he can be developed to be a better and better player(especially in passing skills). A generational talent
The PL fanboys who thinks that Mbappe is not even comparable to their beloved Henry because the latter played in the PL simply has no clue about football. Take off your rose-tinted glasses. Henry would never in his lifetime score 3 goals in a World Cup final, let alone when his team is playing atrociously and he had to single-handedly drag his team to the penalties. And despite all that he still scored his penalty (fourth goal of the game) impeccably. Henry could never do that, and this proven by the fact that Arsenal have not accomplished anything of note outside of England during Henry's prime, nor has France when he played for them in his peak. Yeah Henry might be able to help France win a qualifiers game by assisting a goal after a blatant handball, but that's about it.
Henry was great at Euro 2000 and WC 2006 though
No, he isn't better than Mbappe at the same age (23)...but let's not rewrite history.
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Maybe not but who knows. The reason Henry may have been a more all round player was his assists and style for Arsenal but I’ll admit Mbappe’s power probably sets him apart... just
It must be said that treble and 6 trophies in a year with Barcelona was insanely impressive for Henry. Add Mbappe into Arsenal or Barcelona would he have improved them much? Not really.
Either way Mbappe plays second fiddle to Messi in that Barcelona side. I don’t think he’s better than the 35 y/o Messi never mind a 25 y/o version.
With that Barcelona side? I think he would have, not that they really needed it. Henry was outstanding for Arsenal, but he never had anything close to the impact Mbappe's had on the French side. You put Mbappe in that 2006 world cup final for example, and I think it takes one win from Italy and brings it to France. The kid is undeniable, even in a loss, with still plenty of time on his side to write more history.
Henry was like Barcelona's 8th best player in 08/09, i mean...
Henry won the treble and all those trophies in Barcelona in spite of him, not because of him. He was a good cog for their system but nothing more to it.
And are you actually serious in thinking that Mbappe's addition would not improve this Arsenal much? Seriously? Are you really that blinded by your PL fanboyism that you do not think Mbappe would improve on an Arsenal that did not even play in CL for the last 6 years? And Barcelona currently plays Fati, Dembele (who Mbappe completely outshoned this entire world cup) or Pedri as their LW, Mbappe would 100% be an improvement on them drastically.
08-09 Henry?
Mbappe is miles better than that Henry.
He'd improve that Barcelona team tremendously. They'd be unstoppable.
Towards the end of the season(when Pep shifted Messi to a false 9), they'd have a front 3 of Mbappe, Messi and Eto'o with Xavi/Iniesta in midfield. Messi dropping into midfield and then Mbappe making runs from the left? Good luck trying to contain that.
Pretty much. It was his swansong season, because he was completely finished as a top player the following season.
Really? He had 37 goals + assists in that season.
Yeah really. He scored a lot because he was a great forward on a team that scored a lot and "shared" the goalscoring burden across 3 players instead of being mostly carried by 1. As Messi's goalscoring went up, his forward partners' naturally went down. He was pretty much as good(slightly better) as Pedro went on to be over the next few seasons
Messi, Eto'o, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Dani Alves were unquestionably better players by that point, and then you have Puyol and Pique who are arguable
Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Eto'o, Puyol, Alves, and Pique were all clearly more important to the team's success.
If you want to argue with a few names there, there's no doubt that Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Eto'o were better/more important that season.
He had a good season obviously, but Mbappe inserted into that team instead of that Henry is a giant upgrade.
It's not even a case against Henry but in 08-09, Eto'o, Messi, Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta and Dani Alves were better performers. One could argue that Piqué and Puyol also were but that's not as clear. Barcelona were ridiculously stacked.
In terms of for France it's not even a debate, hard to believe Mbappe is still 23. Today Mbappe scored more goals for France in a knockout game than Henry has managed for France in all of the knock out games he's played in. Incredible. Never thought I'd see someone score a hattrick in a World cup final, at least not in our time with how tight and tactical football has become.
In terms of at club level, Henry is ahead but it's not by much. If Mbappe continues this trajectory he'll be above Henry within 2-3 seasons and no he doesn't need to move leagues to accomplish this.
In terms of at club level, Henry is ahead but it's not by much. If Mbappe continues this trajectory he'll be above Henry within 2-3 seasons and no he doesn't need to move leagues to accomplish this.
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Better: Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Eto'o, Alves... maybe even Puyol and/or Pique (and even Busquets even though he only broke through). Not 8th probably but far from the top.
He is an incredible weapon, and the thing is there are still a lot of improvements he could make in his general play, passing, working on those periods when he just drifts out of games for long spells.
Hat trick in a WC final, and yeah 2 pens so maybe not as great a hat trick as some, but still with that pressure, and to be that cool (look at Kane) pretty special.
Hat trick in a WC final, and yeah 2 pens so maybe not as great a hat trick as some, but still with that pressure, and to be that cool (look at Kane) pretty special.
I felt like penalties were one of his weaknesses. But when he missed his first big penalty against Switzerland in the Euro, and then he stepped up right away to take it against Belgium in the semi of the NL against Courtois no less, that's all you need to know about his mentality. The guy is a mental giant, and what he did today, I can't help but admire it. Incredible performance, it's too bad it didn't end with the trophy, but he's earned a lot of respect for what he pulled off. Got 3 penalties past their GK, and a great goal against the flow of play. Can't ask for much more than that, and he will be back. The record is his to take in 2026.
Maybe but it’s hard to say Mbappe has reached the level of Xavi and Iniesta yet so he’d be 4th would he not?
Those players absolutely dominated the game like he has never managed yet. They absolutely murdered the best teams in the world for years.
He needs more time before we call him on their level.
What are you even talking about? Henry played for peak Arsenal invincibles.
Would he make the invincible’s better in place of Henry? Would he make them more stylish and offer that all round play as well as goalscoring ability plus leadership?
My guess is they are very close ability wise. People forget how amazing Henry was at his peak. He was second only to Ronaldinho on the planet Mbappe is basically the same level currently but in a different football landscape.
I think Platini was a better player than Mbappe too as it stands as again he offered more all round and was more technical and had the end product.
I see both sides of the argument. If you werent an avid follower of the PL in the 2000s and most of what you saw of Henry is the CL and international tournaments then its a no brainer that Mbappe is better. He's accomplished so much more on the biggest stage than Henry.
If you watched the PL every week, the you saw a side to Henry that Mbappe has yet to reach. Henry embarrassed professional footballers on a weekly basis and was an absolute artist on the pitch. There's never been a rival player I've detested because he was so good apart from Henry. Suarez in 2013/14 was the same but Henry did this consistently for years.
Henry could do every Mbappe can but so much more. Free kicks, long range shooting, creativity. The key question though is does it really matter if Henry never displayed that quality as regularly outside of the PL? It's a really tough one to answer so I'm sitting on the fence but I'd expect Mbappe to be well clear of Henry by the time his career is over.
If you watched the PL every week, the you saw a side to Henry that Mbappe has yet to reach. Henry embarrassed professional footballers on a weekly basis and was an absolute artist on the pitch. There's never been a rival player I've detested because he was so good apart from Henry. Suarez in 2013/14 was the same but Henry did this consistently for years.
Henry could do every Mbappe can but so much more. Free kicks, long range shooting, creativity. The key question though is does it really matter if Henry never displayed that quality as regularly outside of the PL? It's a really tough one to answer so I'm sitting on the fence but I'd expect Mbappe to be well clear of Henry by the time his career is over.
I cast my vote for Henry, but it’s not hard to imagine Mbappe blowing him away soon.
hl from an untelevised match vs Aston Villa & Soton
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For a few years Henry was just mindblowing. Pick a match, any match, and he’d blow you away and just look like he was a cut above the rest. Mbappe has a way to go yet, even if his numbers are outrageously good.
Pep didn't start to use Messi as a flase 9 until halfway through Zlatan's first season.
Barca scored 158 goals that season, Messi had 58 G+A, Eto’o had 44. They had prime Xavi, Iniesta, Dani Alves, Pique, Yaya, Marquez and Puyol you could definitely make an argument that some of those players were more instrumental to their treble than him.
Actually even during his “GOAT-period” when he was destroying the PL you could pick too many UCL matches with Arsenal or matches with France where he failed to blow anyone away, and sometimes looked out of his depth…
Yeah, I should have specified for Arsenal, as Henry rarely looked as good for France.
As for UCL, he can’t do it all on his own. The one season Arsenal went to the final he was unplayable.
Slight hyperbole, but he certainly had a few years where he showed his class constantly.
Also, it’s worth keeping in mind that when he was playing we had far more top class defenders stemming goals.
Henry was great for France overall, he was the top scorer until Giroud broke his record this last WC.
He was great in Euro 2000 and WC 2006.
I mean I really rate Henry but how is this a serious debate?
If he was as good as Mbappe he wouldn't have spent the prime of his career playing for a team that was barely relevant on a European level. There was also no part of Henry's career where he'd have been dominating two world cups in row, never mind when he was barely an adult yet.
If he was as good as Mbappe he wouldn't have spent the prime of his career playing for a team that was barely relevant on a European level. There was also no part of Henry's career where he'd have been dominating two world cups in row, never mind when he was barely an adult yet.
He still had a few good games here and there in the CL (Inter Milan, Real Madrid for instance)
Henry was better technically, Mbappe is the superior athlete. It's pretty close between them but I give Mbappe the slight edge.
Euro 2000 I don’t recall that clearly, 2006 I didn’t think he was "great"
At any rate I reckon it’s uncontroversial to say he for the most part didn’t match his Arsenal form when playing for France.
Resurrectus!
The discussion has reignited (let's embellish!) and with Mbappe's trajectory not looking so certain and definitive anymore, the next few years are going to have massive sway in this discussion, I feel.
Mbappe can still turn his entire season around via the Euros, mind, and that should not be forgotten.
Felt this was always going to be a career-long discussion until Mbappe left no room for doubt, but that road is long and twisted, so where do you stand now? Has your view on this changed at all?
The discussion has reignited (let's embellish!) and with Mbappe's trajectory not looking so certain and definitive anymore, the next few years are going to have massive sway in this discussion, I feel.
Mbappe can still turn his entire season around via the Euros, mind, and that should not be forgotten.
Felt this was always going to be a career-long discussion until Mbappe left no room for doubt, but that road is long and twisted, so where do you stand now? Has your view on this changed at all?
Mbappe is far too young for comparisons like this.
Mbappe will be by the time he retires. Henry scored 360 career goals. Mbappe is up to 280 so presumably catches him up in the next couple of years at his current rate of scoring, and he's only 25. He's not far behind in terms of assists too.
The difference between Mbappe and Henry is Thierry was a great player in his era but Mbappe is in my opinion the best player of his era.
Time will tell though. If he flops at Madrid and ends up in Saudi Arabia I may change my mind.
The difference between Mbappe and Henry is Thierry was a great player in his era but Mbappe is in my opinion the best player of his era.
Time will tell though. If he flops at Madrid and ends up in Saudi Arabia I may change my mind.