Arsenal’s talisman Thierry Henry has finally ended his long term flirtation with Barcelona by signing a four-year contract with the Catalan side for a transfer fee of 24 million euros, sources at the Primera Liga club announced on Friday.

Cadena Ser radio, the station that broke the news of David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane’s moves to Real have also reported that Barcelona will pay Arsenal a sum of £16 million pounds after manager Arsène Wenger agreed the fee on Wednesday after having personal talks with Barcelona’s vice-president, Ferrán Soriano, before meeting up with Arsenal’s board of directors to approve the sale of the legendary striker at a board meeting on Thursday.

The signing was most likely to be made official on Saturday with Henry set to undergo a medical on Monday and to be presented to the media and fans in Barcelona’s Number 14 shirt, made famous by Johan Cruyff and by the Frenchman himself during his stay in London.