Spanish press says 'hooray Henry'
The Spanish press today hailed the impending arrival of Thierry Henry at Barcelona with almost universal praise.
Unsurprisingly the Barcelona-based sports newspapers of El Mundo Deportivo and Sport both went big on the story which broke last night, plastering their front pages with a mocked-up picture of Henry wearing a Barca kit and the headline ’signed’.
Madrid-based Marca and AS were less emphatic in their reporting of the move, preferring instead to concentrate on Saturday night’s Copa del Rey final – which is to be held at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium – as their lead stories.
However, both newspapers reported that Barca had swooped for Henry in the top-right corner of their front pages, with Marca announcing: ’Henry, the first super-signing of the summer’.
AS merely declared: “Henry signs for Barca for €27m”, a price tag that was three million euros more than was reported by their three rivals.
The two Barcelona newspapers also went big on Henry inside, with El Mundo Deportivo dedicating their first 10 pages of text to the Frenchman, who is set to complete what is believed to be a four-year deal with the Catalan giants this weekend.
Sport gave six pages to the Henry news, with a double-page spread announcing: “Another world champion for Barca – the most brilliant and effective striker on the Continent.”
Another Sport headline read: “With the signing of Henry we have a new crack (ace). The old dream of Barca, and of half of Europe, has become reality. Henry will wear the azulgrana shirt and will show his talent at the Nou Camp.”
Marca were also highly complimentary of Henry, although the main bulk of their coverage on the transfer was reserved for page 20, where their headline read: “Another galactico for Barca” with a picture of Henry alongside Brazilian ace Ronaldinho.
’Galactico’ was the famous term originally used to describe the plethora of superstars signed by Real Madrid over the last few years, such as Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, David Beckham and Ronaldo.
Marca also provided a sidebar on the best attacks in Europe, comparing Barca’s forward options of Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o, Henry, Lionel Messi and Eidur Gudjohnsen to those of AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea.
The majority of AS’s Saturday publication was dedicated to the Copa del Rey final between Sevilla and Getafe, and their coverage of Henry’s anticipated move to Barca was limited to three-quarters of page 26.
El Pais, Spain’s national newspaper, gave the first page of their sports section to the story about Henry.
There was little hyperbole in the report, with the paper’s headline reading: “Barca sign Henry for 24 million. The French striker, who until now has been at Arsenal, commits to the azulgrana club for four seasons.”
