Taribo West names Arsenal's all-time top scorer as one of the toughest strikers he played against

Nigeria legend Taribo West has named Arsenal's all-time top scorer Thierry Henry as one of the toughest strikers he faced in his playing career.

A Premier League legend, Henry netted 228 goals combined in his two stints at the Gunners, with 175 of them coming in the English top-flight.

The 1998 World Cup winner first made his name at Monaco, scoring 28 goals in 141 matches in six years at the Principality club.

1996 Olympic champion West and Henry faced off three times in the Ligue 1 with the Frenchman firing blanks in all the matches and never came up against each other during their spells with Inter Milan and Juventus respectively.

The former Auxerre centre-back claimed that Henry always found it difficult to play against him.

"Henry was one of the toughest strikers I played against. Throughout my sojourn in Europe, I don’t think I slept, I was always calculating ahead of the next striker I would play against," West told The Punch.

"To play in the French topflight then as a defender, you must be very good because all the teams had first class strikers. Go to Italy, England, Germany, it was the same. I was one of the defenders that were outstanding.

"There were very few attackers that passed me one-on-one to score, they were very few. Henry was one of the emerging stars then, and when Auxerre played against Monaco, I always breathed down his neck.

"I made him shiver, like they were pouring snow on him. That’s why he said I was the toughest defender he played against."

West also represented clubs in the Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga and English Premier League before hanging up his boots .

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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