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When Eduardo signed for Arsenal in 2007 it seemed like he was a replacement for the departing Thierry Henry which, naturally, underwhelmed some Arsenal fans. Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy is hard to criticise though and it soon became clear that Eduardo wasn’t a like-for-like replacement but rather an investment for the future who would be able to help lead the line for years to come. The Brazilian-born Croatia striker’s career at Arsenal to date has been a mixed bag and opinions on his differ. Does Eduardo bring much to the Arsenal team?

The easiest thing to think of in regards to Eduardo is the injury that kept him out of action for a year, cutting his debut season at Arsenal short. What’s less memorable is that Eduardo had already scored 12 goals in all competitions for the Gunners that season in what was supposed to be a transitional season – not a bad tally at all for a striker who’d come from the Croatian leagues to the hardest league in the world and was still settling in.

The injury then meant 2008/09 was a write off for Eduardo but his return did bring a few appearances and a few goals and thus hope for this season was renewed. How Eduardo has fared this year gets differing opinions though – many in the media are happy to refer to him as a “passenger” as Eduardo often appears to do little in the games and his name is not read out constantly like Cesc Fabregas or Robin van Persie’s would be. And to be fair 6 goals from 20 appearances is not the best of scoring records for a striker. But it’s not a poor record either, particularly not if you consider that Eduardo has been in and out of the game and isn’t a first team regular. And along with his goals he does provide a number of assists and shows good general play.

Eduardo was vilified early on this season due to a dive against Celtic but it has led to the media being prejudiced against him and they would happily declare him a failure. Whilst I feel it was unfair that Eduardo escaped a ban that had already been imposed on him I think it’s very harsh to claim that he’s failing given his mixed form simply because he did something they disagreed with. This is the same media after all that drooled over Cristiano Ronaldo despite his constant diving. Hypocrisy much?

At 26 Eduardo can’t be considered a young prospect like many Arsenal players in Wenger’s squad tend to be but Wenger knew that signing a prolific scorer in Croatia didn’t guarantee him a prolific scorer for the Premier League and the fact that Eduardo still features in Wenger’s plans show that the man still has plenty to offer, Wenger’s a fine judge of players. You may expect Eduardo to be settled into the Premier League by now as he’s been here 2 and a half years but he’s been plagued by injuries, never given a long run in the first team and the criticism of him is harsh. Eduardo may not be the most noticeable of Arsenal players but he does offer Arsenal a different edge to many players with his good runs into space and ability to draw defenders away. He’s got plenty to offer and overlooking him is a mistake. Eduardo may not be a big goalscorer but there’s much more to him than that.

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