• Former striker takes Ligue 1 job with club down in 18th place • ‘I am very happy to come back to Monaco,’ says Henry

Thierry Henry has been named as the new head coach at Monaco. The former Arsenal and France forward replaces Leonardo Jardim, who was sacked by the Ligue 1 side on Thursday.

Henry started his career at Monaco, and has been working as an assistant to the Belgium manager Roberto Martínez.

Leonardo Jardim leaves Monaco after poor start to Ligue 1 season Read more

Henry has signed a deal until June 2021 and said on Monaco’s website: “I am very happy to come back to Monaco and extremely determined to meet the challenges ahead.”

Jardim had led Monaco to the French title in 2017. However, last year’s Ligue 1 runners-up have struggled this season, sitting 18th and with only one win in all competitions.

Henry will make his first steps into management, after a reported switch to Bordeaux over the summer never materialised. “In the first place, I thank AS Monaco for giving me the opportunity to coach the team of this club so special to me,” Henry said. “I cannot wait to meet the players to start working together.”

Henry is set to officially take up his new role from Monday. He will be joined at the club by Valado Tralhao, the Under-23s coach at Benfica, and Patrick Kwame Ampadu, who had been working at the Arsenal Academy.

Monaco’s vice president and chief executive officer, Vadim Vasilyev, is confident the 41-year-old World Cup winner can make an impact in the dugout.

“His knowledge of football, his passion for the game, his high standards and his commitment to our colours make his nomination a reality,” Vasilyev said. “Thierry is both aware of the task ahead and eager to start his new job. He can count on our trust and all our support to bring a new dynamic to the team and carry out its mission.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thierry Henry in action for Monaco in 1997. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Henry helped Monaco win the French title in 1997, before joining Italian club Juventus in January 1999. The then winger was reunited with former manager Arsène Wenger when he moved to Arsenal some seven months later, going on to become an integral part of the Invincibles side and eventually the club-record goalscorer.

Henry joined Barcelona in 2007, winning the Champions League two years later, before a switch to the United States with the New York Red Bulls as well as a brief spell back at Arsenal.

The Frenchman had been initially doing some coaching with Arsenal while also taking on a lucrative pundit role with Sky Sports, which finished at the end of last season.

Henry was more recently part of the backroom staff in Belgium’s run to the semi-finals of the World Cup, where they finished third ahead of England and had been heavily linked with the manager’s job at Aston Villa before Dean Smith’s appointment at the Championship club.