Barring injury, Da Silva should score the most goals of the three simply because Arsenal got the most direct fit of the three. Arse missed buckets of chances last year that this kid would have put away. With a bit of tweaking elsewhere, Eduardo makes Arsenal a contender almost overnight.
Torres is a terrific talent, but who knows exactly how Rafa intends to use him? He's not a natural predator like Da Silva -- or Morientes, who failed at Anfield -- but he still could have massive impact on the whole side. Of course for that kind of money, he should. If not, this signing will cost Benitez his job -- and rightly so. Be fascinating to see if Rafa plays Torres with Crouch, and if he does, how it works out.
Bent is another Defoe. Yes, he can score but when and how will he get on the pitch? Lot of money to spend on a No. 3 (or No. 4) striker. Spurs have spent a bundle and now are overloaded in some spots and light in others. I'm still not sure why Bent even wanted this move. Maybe he'll surprise us but all the bigger clubs passed on him and they're all pretty shrewd judges of talent -- not to mention that United and Arsenal were looking for strikers.
As for the business of judging how someone will produce coming from another league, you simply have to wait and see. No true gauge available. Somebody mentioned the failure of Kezman who lit up the Dutch league, but so did Ruud and he was -- and still is -- one of the best goal scorers in football.
Unless Da Silva freezes under the weight of expectation -- and his performances at the international level suggest otherwise -- he would seem to be an awesome fit for Arsenal. He'll almost certainly take penalties, as well, so 20 goals appears to a reasonable total given the chances he'll see. He could take awhile to get comfortable, but he's already moved haflway round the world a couple times with no difficulty so that may not be a problem. I've personally seen Eduardo play four times on TV -- three Euro qualifiers and a game against Arsenal -- and he scored in all of them, looking dangerous every minute.
If Torres fits in as a gifted all-purpose star at Anfield, then the battle at the top of Prem has just gone from two teams to four.
Spurs should be better, but so are the teams who were well above them.
My rank of these signings:
1. Eduardo Da Silva
2. Fernando Torres
3. Darren Bent
Final note: Strong rumours that Arsenal aren't finished acquiring people and that Martins still on the list. In that scenario, the team probably gets considerably better and more versatile but Eduardo plays a little more on the wing and perhaps scores less goals.
Even without Martins, I can see Arsenal now playing a 4-1-4-1 with Gilberto in front of the back four as usual, Rosicky and Fabregas in the middle, Eduardo and van Persie on the wings and Adebayor at the target man to set up runs from everyone else.
That's a world more firepower than Arsenal's had since Henry was healthy two years ago, especially with Walcott due for a breakout year and backups in the middle (Denilson) and at holding midfielder (Diaby).
In any event, Eduardo will get 20 goals unless he's totally overrated, and there's no evidence whatsoever to suggest it.
