When it was announced that Thierry Henry would miss the remainder of the season with damaged stomach and groin muscles, it was surely just a matter of time before blame for his estimated five-month lay-off was apportioned by his manager and the player himself.

For Wenger - the man whose gamble to play a patently unfit Henry against PSV Eindhoven, in an attempt to rescue Arsenal’s Champions League season, backfired spectacularly when he suffered this latest injury - the answer is simple: the French national team are to blame.

They’ve played Henry for the entirety of friendly internationals this season, having pushed him to the limit in their quest to prove the doubters wrong about their aging team in Germany 2006, paying in the process scant regard to the effect on his long-term fitness, and ignoring Wenger’s pleas for his captain to be wrapped in one or two layers of cotton wool for the benefit of both his club and his country.

Henry hasn’t exactly disagreed with his manager either. For him, a cursory glance back to last summer’s World Cup tells its own story, as he spearheaded France’s attack all the way to the final at the expense of a proper break to recharge his batteries, having spent an arduous season captaining his club to the Champions League final and fourth in the Premiership.

After playing month after month of football, picking up niggling injuries and attempting to play through them, and being under pressure to perform and deliver the goals for both his club and country, Henry is, quite simply, mentally and physically exhausted. Some might say he was overdue an injury-ravaged season - this has been it.

Since the Premiership kicked-off last August, Henry has looked but a shadow of the majestic player football fans all over the world have eulogised about in recent seasons. He has lacked sharpness and energy, his guile and trickery have almost deserted him and he’s contributed just 14 goals to his team’s tally; all signs that Henry hasn’t been himself in the 31 games he has played for Arsenal this season.

Furthermore, according to the striker, he’s not alone is suffering from the rigours of modern-day top-level football. He’s sighted a raft of fellow pros such as Ribery, Makelele, Gallas and Vieira, as well as Ronaldinho, Deco and Gerrard, who have, through fatigue, been far from their effective best, and in many cases have similarly struggled with the sort of injury problems that have deprived Henry of his once imperious form.

It seems that many of the very best footballers the world has to offer are in such demand they are played and played until they can play no more. Why? Because the desperation to win has never been greater, the standard players are expected to perform at has never been higher and the expectation that comes from the worldwide exposure of the game brings unprecedented pressure upon everyone involved in delivering this sport to the masses.

Increased revenue has brought many advantages to football at the top-level, and players have benefited more than most, but it is never going to be the case that paying players vast sums will make them into robots who are invincible to injury.

Do we really want footballers who’ve achieved what Henry has in consistently being the Premiership’s Golden Boot, and being recognised by both journalists and his fellow pros in Player of the Season awards, to get to a stage where they are like broken toys in a game of fixture congestion?

For these players to light up pitches across Britain and beyond, clubs have to be responsible with their welfare, which by and large they now are with vastly improved facilities and expert medical practitioners, and FIFA have to accept that countries must move with the times and modify their schedules and attitudes to protect their biggest asset – the players.

Raymond Domenech has said that he is tired of listening to Arsene Wenger’s complaints about the French team’s management of Henry, which suggests that while Wenger has a tendency to harp on, Domenech has an even greater tendency to imitate an ostrich.

Sticking his head in the sand and not appreciating the fact that Henry would eventually buckle under the demands being made on his body is the sort of dangerous attitude that only inflames the age-old club vs country debate. However, regardless of who has the greater right to play a player, and even setting aside the argument about the clubs playing these players wages, or indeed their countries being able to call upon their services and be backed up by almost draconian FIFA rules, there is no benefit to either side in exhausting a player until he can no longer play.

Ironically, both Wenger and Domenech, if they could stop snipping at each other for five minutes, might realise that they actually have a remarkable amount in common, given the joint reliance they place on Henry. Now that they are denied his services, perhaps a little reflection is in order, since whatever their personal feud, for both of them to have over-used Henry to such an extent just because they could is precisely why they now can’t.