Henry, scorer of a record 51 goals in 12 years for Les
Bleus, announced after the team's World Cup debacle that he quit international
football.
In an interview in sports daily L'Equipe on Friday, the
32-year-old Henry was asked if he would return if Blanc asked him to help out
during the 2012 European Championship qualifying campaign, which begins against
Belarus on Sept.
3.
"I won't go. It's finished," Henry said.
"I will not come back to the French team again." Henry was part of
the World Cup squad that went on strike at training in protest at striker
Nicolas Anelka being thrown off the team for insulting coach Raymond Domenech.
France failed to win a game for the second consecutive
major tournament, going out in the group stage as it did at Euro 2008. Henry
hardly played in South Africa and was benched by Domenech, who has since been
replaced by Blanc.
"I'm not here to settle scores. The coach put me on
the bench, he took the armband away from me and didn't pick me.
But I respect his decisions," Henry said. "More
than what's been said, we weren't good on the pitch. People can think what they
like, that's the most important thing." Henry, who won the 1998 World Cup
and Euro 2000 playing alongside Blanc, preferred not to talk about the fiasco
in South Africa at length.
"I always gave my all. Honestly, I can hold my head
up very high. My conscience is clear," he said. "I'm lucky enough to
have won everything with the French team."
The former Barcelona and Arsenal forward is raring to go
with his new club, New York Red Bulls in the US, although he admits he is not
match fit.
"The fact that I love this city and that I have a
lot of friends here also influenced my choice (to come)," he said.
"The three months ahead will be quite strange in the sense that I'm at the
end of my season and my teammates are right in the middle (of theirs). I am doing
extra (training) sessions, but I am still far off in physical terms."
