Celtic youngster Jack Aitchison says he wants to emulate Arsenal’s all-time top goalscorer Thierry Henry with the help of former Gunner Kolo Toure.
The 17-year-old forward is one of Celtic’s promising talents and has been reaping the benefits of having Kolo Toure around to help him.
Toure, 36, retired recently to become Celtic’s technical director, a role which will see him assist with the training and development of their young players.
As a former teammate of Henry’s, Toure has been trying to teach Aitchison how the French striker used to train.
“Kolo is probably the biggest help to me at Celtic. He’s the nicest guy you will ever meet. He’s very down to earth and he speaks away like a normal person. You wouldn’t know what he’s achieved in his career,” Aitchison told the Evening Times.
“He’s trained with Thierry Henry, so he’s been trying to tell me what he used to do – the movements he’d make in games. If you’re learning from guys like that, it’s going to be beneficial.
“Funnily enough, I’m actually an Arsenal fan. Me and my dad both support them. So I have watched [Henry] on the internet and YouTube just to see how he played. He was unbelievable.
“I wouldn’t mind following in his footsteps with the way he played and the way he scored goals. To do that I will need to work hard.
“I have spoken to Kolo a couple of times about being in the Invincibles team and about guys like Henry and Robert Pires. He told me they were all brilliant trainers who didn’t just do it in games. Training is a big part of it too.
“You have to show the manager what you have got if you want to have a chance to play games for the first team and that’s something I’ll always keep in mind.”
Henry did plenty of work in training to perfect his finishing and other skills, which helped him score 228 goals for the club. As an Arsenal fan, it must quite the experience to learn from one their legendary players in Kolo Toure.
Toure made 327 appearances for Arsenal before joining Manchester City. He soon ended up at Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers, and followed him to Celtic, where he made 20 appearances before retiring.
He seems to be adapting well to life as a coach and could return to Arsenal one day in that capacity. As for Aitchison, he made his Celtic debut in 2016 and and became the club’s youngest ever goalscorer by scoring in a 7-0 win over Motherwell.