PHOTO: Bildbyrån
He had the great honor of standing in goal at Arsenal.
Then Rami Shaaban got to know the great player Thierry Henry.
The Swede never forgets when Henry did the very best thing for his son.
There were many who were really surprised when Rami Shaaban suddenly got the chance as first goalkeeper in the big club Arsenal. He had had to fight hard to reach the top of the world and suddenly he was a regular goalkeeper in the world’s best league, the Premier League.
Shaaban’s success
Shaaban first reached the Allsvenskan as a 25-year-old when he became the second goalkeeper behind Andreas Isaksson in Djurgården. But then things went very quickly for the Swedish shot stopper.
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In the summer of 2002, a certain Arsene Wenger of himself and signed the 27-year-old to Arsenal, just a couple of months later he made his debut in the Champions League and got the chance as first-choice goalkeeper when David Seaman injured himself. Everyday life at one of the world’s biggest football clubs became very special for the Swedish-Egyptian from Nacka.
– At a training session, I suggested that we have a football night and watch CL at someone’s house. The others did not understand at all what it would be good for and I had to explain how we did in Nacka and Djurgården. Dennis (Bergkamp) laughingly said he would come anyway and (Thierry) Henry said he would buy the chips with him, says Rami Shaaban in an interview with Sportmagasinet in 2006.
Henry’s nice gesture
But unfortunately nothing came of that Champions League night at Arsenal. And Shaaban knows exactly why.
– No, nothing happened. It wasn’t a football night. It’s something that many footballers often lack – and now I don’t mean just them in this example – social skills. Since they were twelve years old, they have been schooled in football academies like this. They only meet the same kinds of people and only talk about the same kinds of things. I think that’s why me and Fredrik (Ljungberg) got so close at Arsenal – we’re quite similar as people. Both are from Sweden, and have played in clubs where you go out and have coffee and chat a bit after practice. We get along very easily, and I think it was very nice for Fredrik to get some of the old times back when I came over, to get some normalcy back in life, says Rami in the interview.
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During his time at Arsenal, Rami Shaaban got to know the great player Thierry Henry. The Swedish goalkeeper reveals what the Frenchman is like as a person and particularly remembers a heartwarming gesture from Henry to his son.
– I think he is an incredibly good father. I got the feeling that he loves children. I remember one day… I was at home with my ex-wife and my boyfriend when the doorbell rang. “Hi, it’s Henry. Come down for a spin”. “Sure,” I said. I knocked down, and there stood Henry with his girlfriend at the time – now his wife – and his mother. Then he had been to Nike and picked out a pair of shoes for my boy. Of course I hadn’t said anything – hadn’t asked him for it – but he just said: “We saw these shoes, and we thought that your son had to have them”. Just such a gesture – says quite a lot about who Thierry Henry is. He is very caring, he loves children and I think he is a great father, he admits to the newspaper.
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READ MORE: Thierry Henry has only changed shirts with one opponent in his career – now he reveals who: “He was the greatest”
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