Arsenal have signed Dinamo Zagreb’s Brazilian born Croatian striker Eduardo Da Silva for an undisclosed fee. Born in Rio De Janeiro in 1983, Da Silva moved to Dinamo in 1998 and spent two seasons on loan at Brazilian club Bangu. He also spent the 2002-2003 season on loan at Inter Zapresic. Da Silva is the first signing that Arsenal have made after the departure of Thierry Henry to Barcelona in June. He has reportedly signed a 4 year contract amounting to 24 million euros.
Da Silva scored the first goal at the new Emirates stadium in a Champions League game when Dinamo played the Gunners. In his 104 appearances for Plavi, he has scored 71 goals. After taking Croatian nationality in 2002, the striker, more popularly known as Dudu, is a regular for the national side. He has played for the A and U-21 Croatian sides too. He is also the first person to score a hattrick in the Zagreb derby, played between Dinamo and their fierce rivals Hajduk.
With the departure of Henry and Aliadiere to the Nou Camp and the Riverside respectively, Van Persie and Adebayor are the only quality strikers in the Arsenal lineup. Many people in the current England lineup will remember Da Silva- he played an instrumental role in Croatia’s 2-0 win over England in October 2006