Ray Parlour says Thierry Henry only second best player he played with at Arsenal

Ray Parlour says Thierry Henry was "amazing" at Arsenal but claims the Frenchman is not the best player he played with during his time at the club.

The former Gunners midfielder featured alongside some world class talent at Arsenal, having played an integral part in the double-winning side of 97/98, as well as the 'Invincibles' team of 03/04.

He name-checked the likes of Patrick Vieira, Tony Adams, Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit as some of the leading stars he counted as teammates, with Henry trumping all of them.

But he reserved top spot for a teammate who was "a cut above".

"The best player, it’s got to go down to two players, either Henry or Dennis Bergkamp," Parlour told Sky Sports.

"Henry was amazing, what he achieved at Arsenal. When he first turned up he couldn’t hit a barn door, it was seven games no scoring goals, we thought 'we can’t win the league with Thierry'.

"We’d just lost Nicolas Anelka who was a brilliant player but I’d have to pick Dennis, because he changed the attitude a lot with the British players with his training methods, professionalism was first class.

"He used to stay behind training and practice on his own. And we used to think ‘well hang on a minute, shouldn’t we be staying behind and doing a bit extra?’

“He influenced a lot but what a special player as well."

Bergkamp joined Arsenal in 1995, and swiftly formed deadly partnerships in attack with Anelka and Ian Wright, and Parlour likened the Dutch striker to Man Utd's talisman Eric Cantona.

He added: "Dennis was the one that would always be in the right place at the right time when you were playing with him. He always read your mind.

"If I had a situation where I only had one pass, Dennis would read that and peel off the centre half and there he was picking the ball up in a dangerous area.

"So I think Dennis was a cut above everyone at that time. But Thierry would go very, very close for being the best as well."

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