France striker Thierry Henry has agreed a new four year deal with Arsenal after fears that he would be leaving The Gunners.

Henry, who was linked with a summer move to Spanish Primera Liga champions Barcelona in the summer, has now committed himself to the North London club for another four years.

The Arsenal captain - who was this seasons Premiership top-scorer - has scored 42 goals in 81 European games for The Gunners, and an amazing record of 164 goals in 237 Premiership matches for Arsenal, voiced his decision to stay with Arsene Wenger’s side after Arsenal’s 2-1 Champions League defeat against Barcelona on Wednesday, saying that the commitment shown by his fellow players and fans in their European challenge led to him making the decision to stay.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and chairman David Dein called a press conference on Friday afternoon where the former Juventus striker confirmed that he will be staying with the Gunners for another four years.

"I think you all know the news so it's not a surprise any more but I'm staying here to play, obviously even more longer for the club I love," Henry told the press conference.

"It's been amazing since I joined the club. Obviously, all you guys had so much speculation and thought maybe I was going to leave.

"I won't lie. It did cross my mind but one point is I'm a guy who thinks with my heart and my heart told me to stay.

"One thing I can say is it seems like I first joined the club, it seems like a new signing. I'd like to say Mr [David] Dein and Mr [Arsene] Wenger are sitting next to me and, without them, I wouldn't be here talking to you right now.

"Also to say, seven years ago, I wouldn't be in front of you without the two men right by my side. I wanted to carry on the right thing, the story of Arsenal, with them and the team. In the past year, even before that, the love the fans showed me was more than amazing and, after the way we lost on Wednesday, I couldn't let them down.

"Another thing also to add in a positive thing to make me stay is my wife, who is English, and I refer to London as my home town. The people here, if I can say, welcome me with open arms. Even though it was difficult at the beginning, I had to show what I could do on the pitch.

"The love I receive here from fans, even sometimes non-Arsenal fans, is something not to forget about. As I said to the boss, and when I got my award as the best player from the press, I said it's difficult to leave country like England because of the passion. It's just the best, the stadiums are full all the time. As you saw so many times, the kind of reception we have even when we play away.

"It's more than amazing for me.

"A lot of stuff went through my head. One of the most important things I said to the boss after the game, I know a lot of people wrote a lot of stuff about the game but the team showed me we don't have anything to envy Barcelona. I think I can be proud of what we did in the game and it reassured me of the one thing I wanted to know all the time - how far I can go with that team.

"It showed me altogether that they are a team that had heart and a lot of quality and I think you saw that too. I know we lost but I'm sure you saw that too."

"I always said it was going to be before the World Cup," he added. "I said I wanted to concentrate on catching Tottenham to get fourth place and the Champions League final. Once that was done, I was pretty quick to make up my mind.

"That's how I am. It took a while, as you all know, there were a lot of stories to write about it during the year but the other side was pretty quick. I told the boss I wanted to stay and that was the most important thing for me.

"As I said to you, there were so many things to talk about why I stayed. This sort of thing - first of all, Mr Dein and Arsene [Wenger], the club, the fans. I just thought I couldn't let them down.

"The Champions League is important. We're not in it yet - we've got to go through qualification. For any club in the world, they would want to play in the Champions League.

"Even more so after what happened after Wednesday.

"It was more than crucial [that we qualified]. That is why I said at the time my concentration was on getting that fourth spot."

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