Biography of Eduardo Alves Da Silva

About

Eduardo da Silva, known generally as Eduardo, is a Brazilian born footballer for Arsenal FC and Croatia. He is married with one child, a daughter.

Eduardo grew up in Rio de Janeiro, playing youth football, until he was spotted by Dinamo Zagreb. He was initially invited over on trial in 1999 before joining the club in 2001.

Club Football

Dinamo Zagreb

Eduardo made his debut for Dinamo Zagreb in the 2001-2 season but the following season was sent on loan to second division club Inker Zaprešić where he scored 10 goals.

After his return to Dinamo he established himself a first team regular and was named the best player in the Croatian league in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

In his time at the club they won the league in seasons 2002-03, 2005-06, 2006-07 as well as doing a 'double' in 2006-7 when they won the Croatian cup.

Also in the 2006-7 season Eduardo scored in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and made an impression on Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger when he scored the first ever European goal at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium. Dinamo fell to a 5-1 aggregate defeat but the player had obviously caught the eye of Arsenal's manager. In his final season at the Croatian club he scored a total of 34 goals in 32 appearances, a club record.

In July of 2007 it was announced he had signed for Arsenal for a fee believed to be in the region of £8.5m

Arsenal FC

Eduardo made his Arsenal debut on 19 July as a 69th-minute substitute in a pre-season friendly against Gençlerbirliği in Austria and made his first start against Lazio in a 2–1 win at the Amsterdam Tournament 2007. His first Arsenal goal came in that game when he headed home a Tomas Rosicky corner.

His full debut came on August 19th 2007 against Blackburn Rovers and scored his first competitive goals against Sparta Prague in a Champions League match.

While taking some time to adapt to the pace and power of English football Eduardo still managed to get on the scoresheet a number of times. He scored twice against both Sheffield United and Blackburn in the Carling Cup and once against Sevilla in Spain in a Champions League group stage match.

From around Christmas time though he began to show Arsenal fans why Arsene Wenger had paid so much money for him. He looked more settled in the team, more confident, stronger and began to get on the scoresheet regularly. He scored two goals against Everton at Goodison Park in a match that Arsenal won 4-1.

On New Year's Day he scored in the opening seconds of the game against West Ham United, superbly taking down a Cesc Fabregas cross and finishing in a manner which had many comparing him to Robbie Fowler when the Liverpool player was actually good at football and not being a useless, fat lump.

He scored against Burnley in the FA Cup and set up Nicklas Bendtner for Arsenal's second goal and scored in Arsenal's 3-1 win over Manchester City. By the end of February, and despite the adaptation period, he had notched up 12 goals in all competitions. Then came the game which saw his season ended and his career threatened.

Broken leg

In the opening moments of the Premier League game against Birmingham City on February 23rd Eduardo was subjected to a late, over the top challenge from Birmingham defender Martin Taylor who was sent off.

He suffered a a broken left fibula and an open dislocation of his left ankle. Only for the quick and experienced intervention of Gary Lewin, Arsenal's physio, there was the real danger that he could have lost his foot to amputation.

Eduardo received eight minutes of on-field treatment before being stretchered off and immediately taken to Selly Oak Hospital, where he underwent surgery. He was moved to a London hospital the following day.

At the time Sky Sports refused to show replays of the incident, saying it was too graphic and upsetting for viewers. Pictures later emerged which showed the seriousness of the injury and how poor Taylor's tackle was. Arsene Wenger, in the immediate aftermath of the incident, called for a lifetime ban for Taylor but later retracted his statement.

It did, however, open up a debate on the disciplinary procedures in the game which questioned why a player who causes serious injury to an opponent receives the same ban as a player who commits a much lesser offence.

After undergoing surgeries Eduardo was allowed to go to Brazil to recuperate. His absence from Arsenal subsequent to his injury was keenly felt and many observers suggested the Birmingham game was a watershed in Arsenal's season from which they never fully recovered. Arsenal would go on to lose a 5 point lead at the top of the table and finish 3rd in the 2007-8 Premier League season.

International Football

In 2002 Eduardo became a Croatian national and made appearances for the U21 side.

He was a critical part of Croatia's success in qualifying for Euro 2008, scoring 10 goals in 12 games during the campaign. Sadly, due to the injury sustained at Birmingham, he was unable to play in the tournament.

He has scored a total of 13 international goals in 22 matches.

International Goals

Awards and Honours

Personal Awards

Career Statistics

M = Matches, G = Goals, A = Assists

Personal Info

Wife / Girlfriend

Sponsors

Important Links

References