Henry happy AC Milan interested but still a Gunner

LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) Arsenal striker Thierry Henry has said it is ''great to hear'' AC Milan are interested in him but that he remains a Gunner for now despite being ''devastated'' at the departure of vice-chairman David Dein.

Asked about reports of interest from AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti, the 29-year-old Frenchman told ESPN Soccernet: ''It's great to hear. How can you not think that?'' ''The only thing I can tell you is, right now, I'm an Arsenal player but hearing that is nice to hear,'' he said.

Henry said Dein, whose exit in April followed a boardroom split, had always shown a deep respect for the players and he and manager Arsene Wenger personified what it meant to be a Gunner.

''I was devastated,'' he said. ''One person that I wouldn't have liked to leave the board would have been Mr Dein.'' The striker, who last May said his heart had convinced him to sign on for four more years, said the picture at Arsenal had now changed.

''Everybody knows that a lot of stuff happened at the club recently that wasn't supposed to happen,'' he said.

Henry's comments have been seen by some in the British press as a sign that he may part with the Gunners, who he joined in 1999, but the striker said he wanted to put the Dein affair behind him.

''Sometimes that's just the way it is. It happened, and we have to move on,'' he said.

REUTERS BJR VC1758