Bolasie meets his idol Henry

Everton winger Yannick Bolasie had his dream come true yesterday after his idol Thierry Henry visited Finch Farm. The decorated former France international visited the Toffees’ training facility to shoot a video segment for Sky Sports which will be aired on Friday night before Everton take on Crystal Palace.

Growing up, Bolasie idolized the striker and was thrilled to finally meet the man himself and get to speak to him.

“It was definitely an honour. To get to speak to him, face to face, was almost like a dream. I was literally standing there afterwards laughing to myself thinking: ‘I’ve just spoken to Thierry Henry!’

“I watched most of his goals and what he has done throughout his career. I even saw one New York Red Bulls game when I went to see my friend Bradley Wright-Phillips.

“I was asking him about some of the goals that he scored and some of the unbelievable stuff that he did. I was asking him what was his thought process and basically he broke it down - but it’s going to be my secret!”

Bolasie had never met his hero in person previous to this so he was thrilled to talk to him about the game. Henry is fifth in the all-time Premier League scoring stats, and has 360 career goals for Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal, Barcelona and the New York Red Bulls. He also has 51 goals in 123 caps for France.

“It’s definitely some advice to take on board. He asked me how I see myself as a player and to hear what he had to say was refreshing.

“I used to support Arsenal growing up and when he came through he didn’t start off the way everyone thought he would. But when he added goals to his game, he was literally unplayable. He used to always peel out to the left, come inside and shoot.

“It’s a dream come true to meet him, to be honest. My dad was a massive supporter as well, so he would have been buzzing if he’d seen that. Words can’t explain.”

Bolasie also revealed why he choose the #14 jersey when he joined Everton this summer.

“There were two numbers available here but 14 reminded me of Henry straight away,” added the winger. “It’s a year where I think I can add more goals to my game because I’m at a team that plays expansive and attractive football, and keeps their wingers high and wide.”