Henry's return gives Arsenal a chance to say farewell to a legend

Thierry Henry scored 226 goals in 370 appearances in his first spell at Arsenal

Thierry Henry's two-month return to Arsenal should be a win-win for all concerned.

Anyone expecting the Frenchman to return to the blistering levels of his first spell at the club will be disappointed, but the brief loan deal is more about saying goodbye than making a serious impact on the pitch.

Henry left in 2007 for Barcelona and never got a real chance to say farewell to the club's fans, and vice versa.

He now has the opportunity to do that and remind supporters of his supreme skills, and the deal is a no-brainer for both him and the club.

It will ensure the feelgood factor created by Arsenal's fantastic league form is continued, while the club will have a more than able deputy for Robin van Persie while Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh are away at the African Cup of Nations.

There will be some who worry Henry risks damaging his legendary status at the club as he is clearly past his best, but the short-term nature of the deal ensures this should not be an issue.

Nobody should truly expect him to waltz straight into the side and return to his form of the early to mid-2000s, but he still has enough class to make an impact - probably from the bench - and perhaps chip in with a few goals.

For some, Henry will always be associated with the handball which helped deny Ireland a place at the 2010 World Cup, but anyone who saw him play live when at his best will remember a stunning footballer with pace, power, skill and stunning technique.

He is certainly among the best three players the Premier League has seen and whatever happens in his brief spell at the Emirates Stadium, that will remain unchanged.

Henry has been training with Arsenal since the MLS season ended and so Arsene Wenger has had the chance to run the rule over him and judge whether the loan deal was worth it.

Henry and Wenger have always had a close relationship

Clearly, Wenger has been impressed by Henry's sharpness and unquestioned ability, so who better to come in as a short-term signing?

Henry is presumably willing to come in primarily as a back-up and his main role will be cameo appearances, similarly to when Sol Campbell returned to the club in 2010.

Campbell ended up playing a key part in the remainder of that season, and Henry will be hoping for a similar outcome.

He will no longer be the main man, one of the best players in the world, and if he can come to terms with that he could be a fantastic signing by Wenger.

One of Henry's main roles will be in the dressing room, with players like Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain surely desperate to feed off his considerable experience.

Both Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain must be striving to emulate Henry, who arrived at the club as a winger and developed into the world's best striker, and his influence on them could be one of his greatest legacies at Arsenal.

On the pitch, Henry's legs may have gone a bit but the intelligence will still be there.

He won't be able to score the sort of goals he once did, with rampaging, powerful runs cutting through the opposition, but he won't have lost his finishing ability and overall aura of class.

Opposition teams will not be as fearful of Henry as they once were but they would still rather face the likes of Chamakh and Park Chu-Young than him.

van Persie is now reaching the levels Henry was in his Highbury pomp, and it is the Dutchman who will be in opposition teams' thoughts in the lead-up to games now.

Henry will have to accept van Persie is now Arsenal's main man

But to look to the sidelines and see the real deal there, ready to come off the bench and bid a final farewell to the club he loves, will surely still make Henry a frightening prospect to any defence.

He will be desperate to make an impact, desperate to help Arsenal secure another season in the Champions League and desperate to repay the faith Wenger showed in him to bring him to Highbury in 1999 for a then club-record fee.

He has already repaid that faith by etching his name into the club's history books as Arsenal's record goalscorer, but will feel he needs one last hurrah just to put any lingering animosity over his move to Barcelona to bed.

Henry will act as cover - and legendary cover at that - for a short period to provide perhaps one final chapter to his incredible Arsenal story.

Don't expect him to be the player he once was, but don't expect him to make no impact either.

Henry is an Arsenal legend and this is the perfect chance for him to say goodbye to the club so close to his heart, while also giving the club an opportunity to thank him for all the extraordinary memories.