Jerome Anderson, the player's agent, is suing France Football, the French magazine, after unsubstantiated claims he went as far as to say "lies" that he met Txiki Beguiristáin, the Barcelona sporting director, in the South of France last week, but Henry's denial was ambivalent. "Last season people were announcing all over the place that I was leaving, but at the end of the day I stayed at Arsenal," he said. "It could be the same this year." To add to the intrigue, there have been suggestions that Anderson has been cut out of the deal.

Some of the uncertainty over Henry's future can be traced back to the day before that London derby and a row with Arsène Wenger from which the pair's strong relationship has not recovered. The Arsenal captain stormed out of the training ground after being told that he was not fit enough to take his place in the team. The manager chose to exert his authority over a player who commands huge influence in the dressing-room and he could do so again in a more dramatic fashion this summer, by selling him to Barcelona.

Much has changed in the 12 months since Henry pledged to end his career at Arsenal after signing a four-year contract worth £110,000 a week, but to outsiders many things appear to be exactly the same. Arsenal have almost become a byword for close- season instability, with "will he, won't he" sagas involving Henry, Wenger and Patrick Vieira dominating much of the past decade, although after a disappointing winter, this is shaping up to be a summer of discontent.

Less than a year after the grand opening of the £360 million Emirates Stadium that was meant to safeguard the club as a Champions League force, Arsenal's future is up for review. The positions of the manager, captain and even the board are under threat, with Stan Kroenke, the American sports entrepreneur, considering launching a hostile takeover bid.

With Wenger committed to seeing out the remaining year on his contract and the board having pledged to hold on to their shares until next April at the earliest, Henry's situation is only the most immediate of many key decisions that will shape Arsenal's future.

Henry's attachment to the club remains as strong as ever, although he has been left shaken by recent events on and off the pitch. With a series of injuries limiting him to 27 appearances, he watched much of last season from the sidelines and was unimpressed, with Arsenal's young players failing to perform consistently. The club's failure to invest in new players has been a source of irritation and with little spending planned for this summer, Henry has fresh doubts about their ambition. The fact that Wenger spent last weekend checking up on an unnamed Norwegian centre back will have done little to reassure him.

With problems developing in Henry's relationship with Wenger, the resignation of David Dein in April represented another blow. While few top footballers leave a leading club because of the departure of a director, Dein's importance cannot be overstated, and not merely because of the close relationship epitomised by the fact that his son, Darren, was Henry's best man and acts as his representative in setting up commercial deals.

Wenger was equally disturbed by the former vice-chairman's departure, which created a vacuum that has yet to be filled and raised further questions over the manager's future. There were whispers over the weekend that, as he did with Vieira, Wenger is ready to cash in on Henry and will allow him to leave, although a more plausible reading of the situation is that the manager is unwilling to make promises he cannot keep. As a man of integrity, he will not break his contract, but with such uncertainty surrounding the club's ownership, he is in no position to commit himself in the long term.

With his 30th birthday approaching in August, Henry is seeking reassurances that his ambitions can be fulfilled at Arsenal, which would require renewed investment and Wenger staying at the club beyond next season. Having rejected a move to Barcelona last summer, Henry is aware that this opportunity will not come again, so it is now or never.

All of which explains Barcelona's confidence, if not their habit of overstating their case. The club were claiming privately yesterday that Henry has agreed a three-year contract worth £6.7 million a year and will be presented as their player in the city next week.

In reality, nothing will be resolved until later in the summer because Barcelona have yet to table a bid and tend to start low in any case. The most crucial development will come when Henry meets Wenger for talks at the club's training ground next month because they are the only individuals with any inkling as to how this saga will end.