Arsenal's Thierry Henry - File

BEIJING (Reuters):

ARSENAL STRIKER Thierry Henry is fed-up with finishing fourth in the English Premier League and thinks the club needs a more experienced squad if they are to challenge Manchester United and Chelsea.

The 29-year-old Frenchman refused to discuss reports that he could soon be leaving for Barcelona, but was less than passionate when talking about his commitment to the club he joined in 1999.

"Since I started playing football, there's been speculation about me going to a lot of clubs so that will never stop," Henry, who signed a new four-year deal with Arsenal last May, told a news conference in the Chinese capital, yesterday.

"As I said last week, for now I'm an Arsenal player."

Missing last season

Henry missed much of last season with injury and Arsenal finished fourth for a second year in a row, 23 points behind champions Manchester United.

"This year it was pretty difficult to see once again that we finished so far behind the top teams," he said.

"It's been a long time that it's been the same top four. I'm actually getting annoyed that we're finishing at the end of the top four."

Henry, in Beijing on a promotional tour for sporting goods manufacturer, Reebok, contrasted the current Arsenal team with the side that won the title without losing a match in 2004.

"I've been in the side, who stayed unbeaten a whole season, so I do know what it takes to win the league," he said.

"Sometimes having a lot of youngsters in your squad you cannot have the same spirit or the same result that you had the year we stayed unbeaten.

"We had guys who had been in the game for 15 or 10 years and who had won a lot of stuff.

"You know, winning is very difficult, you don't just arrive there. I was not, and am still not, a finished product, but I certainly wasn't a finished product at 20."

Henry said he did not know what plans there were for strengthening the squad this summer.

"Talking about resources, it's out of my hands, it's not what I do at the club," he said.

"The only thing I would like to say is that it has to happen from the pitch.

"There's a lot of stuff happened in the club recently, maybe it has to start again and fresher."