There haven’t been many departure’s like Eduardo’s. Here is a player who failed to ever truly reach his potential at Arsenal and didn’t ever score a crucial goal against a big rival, yet here is a player that will be missed by almost every Gunner’s fan following his £6m move to Ukraine yesterday – and rightly so.
If ever a statistic summed up a player’s career it is this one: Eduardo converted 23.5% of his shots in the Premier League before his injury v Birmingham City in Febuary 2008, but just 6.3% after.
There were glorious glimpses of a heroic recovery, of course. THAT volley at Burnley where he used the same ankle that was left horrendously dislocated after Martin Taylor’s challenge to shape the ball into the top corner was a spine tingling moment that I, like many, won’t forget in a hurry. But moments like that just helped make it all the more difficult to admit that here was a man who was a shadow of the player he was on his way to becoming in early 2008.
The personal message Eduardo has made to the Arsenal fans following his move was a fantastic gesture which just illustrated the sort of person that he is – classy, thoughtful, intelligent and, above all, hugely respectful.
I just hope that the move to Shakhtar will give him the opportunity he needs to rediscover the confidence he had in himself just a few short years ago. And who knows? Maybe he will find himself back at the top level once again some day soon and I genuinely can’t think of another player who would deserve that second chance more than him.
Goodbye Eduardo, and good luck.
