Didier Drogba has insisted Thierry Henry should have been recognised with the on 10 occasions due to his endeavours with Arsenal, Barcelona and France. Drogba and Henry are regarded as two of the finest strikers of the era, having racked-up 279 top-flight goals between them.

Arsenal signed Henry from Juventus in 1999, with Arsene Wenger overseeing his transition from a winger to a striker. The 1998 World Cup winner was instrumental as the Gunners clinched the Premier League trophy in 2002 and again starred as part of the Invincibles side that remained unbeaten on their way to the 2003/04 title.

Henry, who began his professional career with Monaco, left Arsenal in 2007 to join Barcelona, where he won the Champions League. He then embarked on a four-and-half year spell with New York Red Bulls.

He returned to England for a loan spell with Arsenal for a month in 2012, before at the end of 2014 after leaving New York.

The 47-year-old racked up a record-breaking 228 goals and 100 assists in 377 appearances for Arsenal and also found the back of the net 51 times for France after featuring for his country on 123 occasions. He also netted 49 goals for Barcelona and 52 strikes for New York Red Bulls.

Drogba was asked to name a player who was unjustly overlooked for the Ballon d'Or during a chat with . And the Ivorian said: "Thierry Henry.

"He deserved it like 10 times because I think he was fantastic in the Premier League, but also for the national team and in the Champions League he was exceptional.

"Scoring goals, winning games on his own and for his team. I mean, we're talking about Thierry Henry - I don't know if there's anything more to say."

Henry, who now works as a pundit, looked destined to win the Ballon d'Or in 2003, but ultimately missed out to Pavel Nedved. He then finished behind Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon in the running to land the accolade in 2006.

And discussing his near miss in 2003 during an interview years later, the Frenchman explained: "You can't debate opinions. When journalists are involved in votes, they vote whatever they want.

"However you want to look at it, they vote whatever they want and when you look at the votes in the history of it, not only my year, every year, you look at the first three, and you're like, really? It is what it is. You can't debate opinions."