According to those who have had personal dealings with Shakhtar Donetsk's new signing, Eduardo is a decent chap. Friendly, articulate, polite. Atypical from the average modern-day footballer, in other words. So his decision to send a farewell message to the Arsenal faithful, thanking them for their support during his troubled time in London, isn't much of a surprise. He didn't have to do it, and although it isn't that big a deal, such decent gestures are unfortunately rare these days.
Nor could the player have been blamed if he chose not to cast a single look back as he arrived in the Ukraine. His story is a torturous new chapter in the dismal tome known as Oh What Might Have Been. Yet perhaps the most unpleasant aspect of his tale is the way it has been told by Fleet Street.
Eduardo has kept his own counsel on the treatment he has endured in the backpages but it's presumable that he was mystified by the canonisation of Saint Tiny Taylor in the weeks that followed his leg-break at Birmingham, bewildered to find himself singled out for unique castigation after his dive against Celtic last September, and angered to find the Daily Mail headlining his departure as 'Flop Gunner! Eduardo was a big shot joining Arsenal...now he's their latest striking failure'.
Sensationalism may be the playmaker of the Mail's game but it is a jolt, and slightly repugnant, to find the newspaper writing Eduardo's obituary in such a fashion and from such an angle. If there is a twist in his tale to be told, then it is only in comparing the player he was before to the one who returned after his leg was shattered at St Andrews. Sympathy is not obligatory or even essential, but there is something deeply unpleasant in such phraseology as 'he is leaving the Emirates like many before him: with his name almost as badly shattered as the bones in the ankle he infamously broke at Birmingham.' If the analogy wasn't so abhorrent, a retort to the intimation that Eduardo broke his legs without outside interference would be worth a paragraph of its own.
Contrary to the impression supplied, Eduardo departs Arsenal not as extension to the list of Arsene Wenger's striking failures, but as a sad reminder of the limits of medical science. Though he returned with his leg mended, never once did he seem to be the player of before. Psychologically, he appeared bereft of confidence. Physically, he looked a yard slower. And medically, he returned cripplingly susceptible to a staggering number of niggles. Between December 2008, when he made his first comeback, and the end of the 2008/09 season, he suffered eight separate 'minor' injuries. There was just no way back, and no way back into the Arsenal team once Arsene Wenger had switched from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3. If his recovery is ever to be completed, it had to be away from North London.
The shameful misdirection offered by the Mail is that he was always destined to fail at the Emirates. 'Living in the shadow of great Arsenal goalscorers was a burden for him before [the injury], and he is not the first to stumble under the weight of expectation,' the newspaper harrumphs. It is an appalling comment that cannot pass unchallenged because if a reason for why Eduardo 'flopped' at Arsenal is being sought then these two sets of statistics ought to be to the fore:
In his 31 appearances and 22 starts before Birmingham, Eduardo contributed 12 goals at an average of a goal every 2.58 games, with a conversion rate of 23.5% from his shots in the Premier League.
In his 36 appearances and 19 starts after Birmingham, Eduardo contributed seven goals, three of which were from the penalty spot, at an average of a goal every 5.14 games, with a conversion rate of 6.3% from his shots in the Premier League.
Good luck to him at Shakhtar. Good luck to his attempt to return as the player he once was. He deserves another chance - and a fairer hearing from those he is leaving behind.
Pete Gill
Eduardo Leaves Behind A Terrible Tale
Now let's hear what you've got to say about this item... or anything else happening in the world of football. Send in your opinions, rants, praise or abuse to: theeditor@football365.com
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Your Comments
paudie
"the mail is indeed an odious rag - but take a Sunday morning, any sunday morning, to watch Sunday Suplement on Sky Sports and marvel at the jingoism and base ignorance of the contributing journalists - they all have agendas, they are little more than (fairly unknowledgable) fans with typewriters and all flaunt their prejudice knowingly and constantly refer to the inside information they have on the clubs they support/report on in detail passing off as facts things that never come to fruition
The Daily Mail is one of the worst but as a media, the football reporting print journalists of England are as poor as there is"
wicken
"The Mail is a shameful rag, and I for one have not read a word of their anti-Arsenal diatribe. Their loathsome brand of so-called journalism is nothing short of pathetic. Remember, this is the paper that slated Lennox Lewis as a Canadian flop after he lost his first pro fight to Oliver McCall (the odious Jeff Powell).
They also single-handedly tried to sabotage England's 2018 World Cup bid. Anyone who buys this rag clearly have no interest in proper and professional journalism."
chenks
"Stokie Rich... Once again the most respected view on f365... errrr. Keep writing in big guy!"
Donnyfan1
"Arsenal's handling of the Eduardo case was exemplary and DuDu has left a very satified and grateful man. Instead of the Mail castigating the 'stop em at all costs' anti-football,over-lenient reffing which got Eduardo, Arsenal and, for Donkey's years, the whole ethos and edifice of english football into a national and international mess- then try to divert sense and reason to pin the disgrace of our game onto protectors and promoters of the beautiful game like AW. To say that Journos and pundits are slow learners is the understatement of the year. The care and sensitivity emplyed by AW to ALL his players is legendary and obvious. All ex-Arsenal players say so. It defies the laws of probabilty that the press and punditry can be as thick as they sound. They have to be working to an agenda. Somewhere along the line- all on this gravy train must have signed up to a code or an agenda devised by Madmen working towards a burgeoning Orwellian nightmare- or something. They are warped and pathetic. Do not read their rubbish. "
THFC6061
"I've always rated Eduardo as a very fine player ever since his hat-trick performance for Croatia against Israel in Ramat Gan in 2006 in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
It's a shame he went to the Gooners but if they think Bendtner is the better prospect then more fools them."
mynor
"I am honestly and seriously praying for Ramsey. He was a lad on the up side and i do believ he'll be back stronger than ever. But one can't help but worry a bit. What if...... @teeball, you hit the nail on the head spot on. wish there were more like you."
overmars
"England will win F**k All NOTHING while idiots like Stokie_rich and Daily mail reader are the majority.
Xenophobia leads to decline, not progress; And Denial is not a river in Egypt.
Goodbye Dudu, you deserved better."
CaesarM
"The real guilty party of course is Wenger. As much as I actually like the man and what he has done for Arsenal, turning them from that ugly 1-nil team into an attractive passing side, he doesn't seem to understand that by doing so, he is taking huge risks. Bringing players into the Premiership who are not galvanised to the English way of playing, who are too slight and immature in stature. I'm not suggesting that a bigger lad would have run off Martin Taylors tackle, but certainly when Ramsey got injured, Wenger stated that the other teams in the Premier League should be castigated for the way they played football and the physical nature of it. This is absolute rubbish. You put out a team of 11 small boys to play against the strength and might of Stoke or Portsmouth or a multitude of other teams, and they won't try to out pass you Arsene, they'll play hard, just like Arsenal of the 80s and 90s did. Thats nobody else's fault but your own Arsene. You didn't offer Eduardo the defence against this that he needed. Nor Ramsey. This will carry on happening until your 'fancy dans' understand that there is generally repercussion to making other players look inferior, however wrong we all feel dirty tackles are. You can't be niave to the fact that you're going to get crunched, so lets not pretend its not a genuine and necessary part of the game."
Little_Dutch
"Alpay was hounded out of the country by the British press when at Villa he spat at Beckham. Just a thought. I'm confused as to where Eduardo's quality comes into this, the fact is, he'd just secured a place in the starting line up, had just put a good scoring run together after taking a few months to step up from the Croatian league when the injry happened. But really, even that's immaterial. Fact is, a man's leg was very badly broken and his career is demonstratably ruined as a result. End of, it's a pity people try so hard to inset club bias and use a story on that human level as a reason to have a dig at Arsenal. Grow up. Nobody's going on like he's died either, death isn't the only maudlin thing in the world, you are allowed to be sad about other things and this is a sad story whoever you support."
teeball
"Well said rvp. The only time stokie_rich and to a lesser extent eddie the eagle post on this site is in an attempt to bait Arsenal fans. In fact it wouldnt surprise me if they are the same schizophrenic person registered under two different names"
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