Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger feels Thierry Henry’s biggest challenge to becoming a successful manager will be the realisation that nothing else in life matters apart from the job.

Henry confirmed on Monday he will leave the New York Red Bulls after four-and-a-half years with the Major League Soccer franchise,  prompting speculation over a return to the Premier League club.

Wenger believes Henry, the Gunners’ record goalscorer, will always be “an Arsenal man”, having trained at their Hertfordshire

base before a brief loan spell during January 2012.

The Gunners boss would welcome some sort of role for Henry with them again in the future, although the exact nature will be
down to the 37-year-old following a period of reflection.

“Being a manager is a different job, but it is dedication. In this job, it is a dedication of your life. You have to realise there is nothing else  than that,” said Wenger, who is now the longest-serving manager in England's top flight.

“If you look around me, people who have worked without interruption for 30 years in this job, you will not find many.

“Thierry is intelligent, committed, he loves the game. He just has to think, Do I want to sacrifice all the rest of my life to be involved in that job?"

And Arsene Wenger has admitted that the Frenchman's return to London in the near future is inevitable.

“Certainly one day he will come back here. In what role I don’t know, that is what he has to think about: what direction
he wants to give to his next life.’’

Arsenal tackle Southampton tonight with injury concerns in defence over Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs, which could see
Mathieu Flamini asked to play at the back, with 19-year-old Hector Bellerin also on stand-by.

The Saints were beaten 3-0 at home by Manchester City on Sunday, which saw Ronald Koeman’s side drop to third place.
And the Dutchman admits Southampton have a long way to go to learn how to handle life at the sharp end of the league.

“The players don’t have that experience that the players of the big teams have, that’s the difference," Koeman said.

“We’d like to be that but that’s difficult, because we have younger players and we don’t have that experience. That’s always important to stay at the top, that’s what we are working towards, but there’s a long way to go.”