Thierry Henry has compared Leandro Trossard to Freddie Ljungberg after working with the Arsenal winger during his time as Belgium’s assistant manager. Trossard made his Belgium debut in September 2020, with Henry returning to the Red Devils’ backroom set-up a year later to assist then-manager Roberto Martinez for a second time.

Trossard moved to England in the summer of 2019 after joining Brighton from Genk. And after excelling on the south coast, the 31-year-old secured a transfer to Arsenal as the Gunners shelled out £21million to take him to the Emirates Stadium. He has gone on to bag 34 goals and 28 assists in 143 appearances for the north London giants, although he is often forced to share game time with fellow left winger Gabriel Martinelli.

Henry spoke about Trossard during an interview with Betway. And after being asked if he had been impressed by the former Brighton man, he explained: “Yes and no, because I know what he can do.

“I’ve seen it in training for the national team, and I saw what he did when he was at Genk. He had an outstanding season that got him the move to Brighton.

“I’m not surprised because I knew it was in there. It was tough for him to play at times during my time with Belgium because Eden Hazard was in front of him. That’s just a tough one, I guess.

“If you look at the goals he scored in Belgium, when he sees the goal and you let him shoot, it’s over. Him being able to finish is something that he worked on early doors, and he can do it with either foot.

“I like the way he manoeuvres the ball, and since his Brighton days he added that intensity to be able to play in the Premier League. He’s clever enough to understand that everything comes from the right for Arsenal because Bukayo [Saka] is there, so sometimes he needs to be on the back post to finish.

“He’s not that type of winger to stay high and wide when everything’s happening on the other side.”

And Henry added: “He comes inside and scores the goals that I remember Freddie Ljungberg scoring.

“We used to build on the left in my time, and finishing with Freddie making the run inside, or finishing with a tap-in at the back post. Trossard has that understanding of what he needs to do for the team at the moment.”