Henry signs four-year extension

Arsenal captain Thierry Henry has signed a new four-year contract with the north London club, pledging his commitment just two days after they lost the Champions League final to Barcelona.

"At one point the thought (of leaving) crossed my mind. My heart told me to stay," the 28-year-old France international, who had been linked with a move to the Spanish champions, told a news conference.

One of the most coveted strikers in the world, Henry has kept Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and fans on tenterhooks for months by postponing his decision until after the season's end.

"The club, the fans - I couldn't let them down. The love that the fans showed me was more than amazing," he said.

The best striker in the world, according to Wenger, Henry joined Arsenal from Juventus in 1999. He is Arsenal's all-time leading scorer and has been the Premier League's top scorer in four of the past five seasons.

Last season he scored 27 league goals to ensure Arsenal will be able to qualify for the Champions League next season by finishing fourth.

He will now also lead the club out at their new 60,000-capacity Emirates Stadium after they ended a 93-year association with Highbury.

The brave Arsenal performance in Wednesday's 2-1 defeat by Barcelona in Paris, when they played most of the match with 10 men after goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off, was instrumental in helping make up Henry's mind.

"I wanted to get into the Champions League final. Once that was done I was pretty quick to make up my mind," said Henry, who has an English wife. "There is a lot of potential here."

"My team showed me I didn't have to leave. They showed me they had heart," he told today's edition of The Sun. Everything was up in the air for a very long time. But at the end of the day, the team raised their game.

"Don't get me wrong, I love Barcelona. But on Wednesday night, Arsenal showed me they had heart.

"After we lost on Wednesday, I went over to our fans and clapped them and they clapped me."

Wenger, who coached Henry at his first club, Monaco, made him captain after Patrick Vieira left for Juventus in the 2005 close season.

"I cannot think of a single player in the Premiership who is more exhilarating, dynamic and exciting to watch than him," Wenger said last week.

"He is a wonderful athlete who not only decides crucial games with outstanding individual skill, he is also paramount to team play ... at times, I believe he is close to being the perfect footballer."

Henry was named the English Football Writers' player of the year last month, the only man to claim the award three times. Arsenal have won two league titles and three FA Cups with Henry.