Will Dudu be good enough for the Arsenal?
Having spent a long, cold winter in the gusty winds, and cracking chills of Zagreb at the age of 15, training with Dinamo Zagreb, when I hear about Eduardo da Silva being signed by Arsenal, it is something close to my heart.
I believe it is a fantastic choice for Wenger to make, and he will be a very good replacement for the much beloved Henry. But the question remains…will his Brazilian skills adapt to the chilly cold of London, and make enough of an impact in the void left at Arsenal by Thierry?
Emmanuel Adebayor is now the central play-maker in attack for Arsenal, but it could be the goal poaching style of da Silva that could make a significant difference for Arsenal in the coming Premiership campaign.
Eduardo da Silva is a Brazilian (if you did not know about him already) plying his trade in Croatia (now a Croatian citizen), and has scored a whopping 34 goals out of 32 games for Dinamo Zagreb. The question remains, can this same flair for goal in the leagues of Eastern Europe be called on in the dynamic play of the Premiership…can da Silva bring in much needed goals for Arsenal, the way Henry did?
The other side of the coin is da Silva’s presence for the Croatian national team. The young Brazilian/Croatian has a freaky knack for goals, but again, does playing against teams like Israel or Macedonia translate to the ability needed to score vital goals in the English Premier League?
Ed’s note: Does scoring a goal against a crap England team count?
The following video shows some of Eduardo da Silva’s goalscoring ability, you decide if he is worthy to replace Henry…some mighty big boots to fill I’d say. Overall, I think da Silva will amplify his ability as a formidable striker with The Gunners, where others from Eastern Europe have left us thinking…”who the hell signed these guys in the first place”?
Will Dudu be good enough for Arsenal? Come discuss this (and more) in the Soccerlens Forum.
BIGJ writes at Keeper Skool, the best goalkeeping blog on the planet.
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Will he adapt to the weather?? He plays in croatia! The winters there are quite harsh so that arguement is really dead.
Let’s assume he’s only half as prolific for Arsenal as he was last season; that’ll still around 16 league goals, 4 domestic cup goals, 3 goals in Europe & 5 assists. I think I could cope with that.
How can you claim that Ade is the main man for arsenal. Never heard of Robin van Persie? Do your homework and look at his youtube videos, van Persie is no longer a Wenger kid he is a world class striker with perhaps the best technical ability in the premiership right now.
He was already arsenals top scorer last season despite being injured for as long as henry.
Ade needs another year or two Robin is the real deal. Watch out spurs.
We have just let go of the best striker in the world. we have the opportunity to buy proven premiership strikers …at not too disimilar prices but what does Wenger do…he buys a striker from the…Croatian league!!!
Of course this is not to say he might not be a success…but why take the risk!!
This is another example of Wenger trying to prove just how smart he is. He wants the glory ‘arsene knows’ ..not the ‘proven’ striker taking the plaudits.
A word to the ‘arsene knows’ crowd…Wenger doesnt always know…just remember Baptista!
I think this is an outrageous purchase…especially as we are at a crossroad in Arsenal history. If we slip out of cl contention..we could so easily slide into midtable obscurity like the tarts down the road. This is NO time to gamble!!!
What to say, at this level of frustration anyone, anything at all is better than the rumours, bad news and inertia we endured since the end of season. Something in me tells me this kid will come good especially if he continues to play as he has been playing. He actually scored a wonderful goal against us at Emirates in CL qualification.
I am also convinced that Wenger will be more ruthless than usual having had had enough with primadonas.If Anelka joins and bolsters our finishing, bring him on. It appears as though AW wants competition among strikers: He puts you in and you fuck up then you should know you are a benchwarmer. This is something that will be good for the team as we have Ade, VP, Bentner and Walcott.
This kid may not be the most skilful but he impresses me with finishing and that is where we have fallen short. Another thing is the price we bought him: £7,5m is fantastic when you consider that Bent went for £16,5 when he could’nt keep his team up in EPL- Investment in the future my @ss
Will he fill Henry’s shoes?. No as there is no-one out there who can. So that is a non-starter. Will he score goals in the EPL?. Time will tell.
He will not score at the rate he did in Croatia, that is absolutely certain, and in any case a decent percentage of his gols last season were penalties. But, if he gets 12-15 in his first season he will have done well. If RVP gets the same and Adebayor, Bendtner and Walcott get their share along with a few from other ares of the team we will be OK. The big question is - will we be stronger defensively because that is where we failed last season.
Alan
Amazing goalscoring record but its football in CROTATIA!! Ive seen some videos on youtube and this guy is just lucky. HES THERE AT THE RIGHT TIME and POOF it bounces of him and WOW a “GOAL”. So I have real doubts about this player. So an amazing season for him would be one where he does half of what he did for zagreb.
I dont understand Arsenal fans they complain about how arsenal are buying nobody in the transfer window and when we do sign some1 you complain then about how they are not good enough. I can tell you from a very reliable source that arsenal do not have much money to spend if any. So tevez,anelka,owen,martins, and eto’o forget about them we need talented players who are not world class yet and that are cheap. So arsenal fans stop complaining becuase i guarantee eduardo da silva “dudu” will be amazing for us next season and he is not lucky. Getting in the right positions is not lucky, that is a good footballer look at nisterooy it doesnt matter how you score the goals its the position you were in the first place.
I think its a great buy IF Wenger can make good use of it. Like the man said, we failed defensively last season. Offensively we had goals coming from most of the team when it was needed.
I think if nothing else, he would make a great goal poacher the likes of RVN, Crespo or Pires. About his build i agree that he’s pretty lightweight. Having said that, have a look at the pictures of C.Ronaldo when HE first started out at Man Utd. I can safely say that for da Silva, if he can develop his physique & toughness the way C.Ronaldo has, then we’re all in for a treat.
I’m just glad Martins ain’t coming to Arsenal (phew!).
first thing wot a player his scoring record speaks for it self he can only get better at arsenal he has a big chance of being top scorer hes a left foooter who can finsh and ssist its 6-8m not 16m i mean liverpool r payin 27m 4 the OVERRATED torres they better hope hell b top scorer then anyo way after loosin baptista aliadiere lupoly stokes we needed another striker he shud b given the no.9 shirt and henrys the best player hes irreplacable we need 1 more attacing mf player some1 like TEVEZ,QURESMA(I WISH)OR NASRI and 2 more dfenders future talent CURTIS DAVIES and hope we dont get sagna we need prob richards and djourou may go on loan senderos may leave
Ade is alright but he aint the best finisher in arsenal, that title now goes to Robin van Persie. RVP is phanominal he is going to be the next Bergkamp for Arsenal.
As for de Silva he has a alot of talent, n who better to culture those talents than Wenger. After all Wenger is responsable for creating the likes of Viera, Cole, Fabregas and lots not forget the legendary Henry himself.
If da Silva is going to become the next great striker hes in da right place.
JUDGING BY AW’S RECORD OF SPOTING TALENT AND DEVOLOPING PLAYERS INTO WORLD CLASS PLAYERS THEN I CAN SAFELY SAY THAT SILVA GIVEN TYM WILL BE A HIT..
BUT NEVA WILL HE FIT IN TH’S SHOES,,ITS A COUPLE OF SIZES LARGER IF U KNOW WHAT AM SAYING..TH WAS ON HIS OWN LEVEL..POOR GOONERS FUNS,U WILL MISS HIM..
I EXPEXCT ARSENAL TO FINISH BELOW 5TH NEXT SEASON..
My personal belief is that Da Silva will be a great signing for Arsenal. He is a goal-poacher, someone Arsenal have needed for a long time. Just because he gained his goalscoring record in the Croatian league people are doubting him. To have a record like his in ANY league is no easy feat. And his international record speaks for itself…
He’s no henry, never will be. Can he provide that finishing thats so badly needed to the gunners’ moves? Unless those videos on youtube were doctored, it looks like we may have that finisher. But it remains to be seen. It all boils down to how he adapts, look at reyes and baptista. 2 proven goal scorers, they couldnt adapt, so it all depends on how well he integrates into the team(something our most prized explayer forgot towards the end of his career at arsenal)……
eygptian gooner, there have been strikers that have made a career of being at the right place at the right time.. and it seems to me that arsenal need exactly the kind of guy who is at the right place at the right time to put that final touch in because their build up as always has been exceptional
Just another quick point, its on arsenal.com that he will wear the number 9 shirt, which gives the impression Reyes is DEFINATLEY going.
Thank goodness!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nREh1bD0HsY
He is not only a finisher he is fast and can dribble extremely well, if he can translate this, 8mil is nothing. Worth the gamble in our style of play, Finishing, pace, dribbling and assissting potential.
If we could just get Anelka and Babel for the wings, 2 defenders required, Sagna can play both full back positions, aparently he is better than Eboue at defending, and is also strong and quick. We need a centre half, can’t trust Gallas. Sanderos should move on Djouru recovery pace is his saviour for now, 3 great centre half can make a difference to not losing vital points in a championship race (Adams, Bould, Keown).
Seen all the videos. At the very least he’ll be a great goal poacher if handled the right way. Forget about comparisons with Henry. We’re entering the post-Henry era now & we’ve got a different set-up for that. It’ll be more of a ‘everyone pitch in & help’ sort of mentality. We survived the post-Adams & post-Viera eras. We’ll survive this.
I get the feeling that this guy moves a lot like Pires. Has anyone seen his running style? Really short strides but quick. Not as fast as Henry or Walcott but definitely got quick reflexes. I’d like to see more of his one-on-ones in the coming season.
Looking at Wenger’s moves i get the feeling he’s got a few plans up his sleeves & has had them on the drawing board for quite some time now. DO NOT FORGET, there are 2 months left till the end of the transfer period. I think we’ll be in for some more surprises before its over.
And Edy, its not like Baptista was a complete failure. He put in some brilliant performances last season. Considering we got him in exchange for Reyes we couldn’t have done any better. Wenger has had many, many more successes than misses. To call him a ‘glory hunter’ is a bit extreme. He’s the manager of a big club & he’s made a lot of responsible decisions in the past. Considering his limited resources lets just give him the benefit of the doubt for now eh?
egyptian gooner - being in the right place at the right time isnt luck…its good positioning and good forward play. I know when we sign a player its fun to look at them on youtube and thrilling even when you watch videos of rosicky and such (when they were first signed) dribbling round 35 players and popping it into the top corner from 10 miles away. These vids however show the few stonkers that these players have scored over a number of seasons. While i love rosicky and hleb and all the rest of them, who are brilliant and contribute much to the team, and near cream myself when they score their supergoals. Dudu’s video isnt nearly as exciting as some of his new teammates’ because most of his goals are taken from within the area and are the result of other player’s passing and dribbling, but you have to remember that most of those goals were scored in a single season, rather than over a few years. More importantly, we dont need another player who can dribble and move and split teams apart with their passing as our midfield is already choc-a-block with them…we needed a player who’s only thought is to head directly for goal. Hopefully dudu will be that player.
Also, about the argument that his stats dont count because he played in croatia…scoring that many goals shows he knows how to finish, even if the defending is crap. Another thing to ponder however..the defences he was playing against may have been crap, but the team that provided him with the opportunities to score was also (i can only presume, having never watched the croatian league) average at best…so i wonder what he will be able to produce when he’s being fed by the likes of fabregas, rosicky, van persie, hleb, etc.?
And a final comment - yes he is an unknown quantity which may be irritating for many fans hankering after a big-name signing, but consider this…henry became much less effective once teams learned how to contain him. I seem to remember Koeman’s Ajax leading the way in teaching the world how to deal with the best player in the world. After this, even though he was still brilliant, henry was denied the space he used to have because he was marked out of many games..and this was because teams knew what was coming. With Dudu, should he (i know it is in no way guaranteed) adapt quickly to the EPL, smaller teams such as Bolton etc, who had a plan to deal with arsenal, wont know what to expect and this could result in him destroying them. We can only hope.
Since I’m very likely the only person from Croatia on this blog, let me fill you in a bit: first, there are no “croatian winters”. The weather differs greatly depending on the region, but yeah, I guess that the Zagreb weather isn’t all that better than the one in London. Second, I assure you that Eduardo IS good enough. He’s class, don’t worry. Of course, he won’t score a goal a game, that’s for sure, but I’ve been watching him for 3-4 years now, and I know, believe me. The boy is good. But still, you are never ever going to have a player as good as Henry.
I’ve never heard of this guy before but he looks very good. (I’m a Gooner btw)Croation football is about the same quality of bottom of the premiership teams. He will do well to hold a place though as adebayor and RVP will start the majority of the games with walcott,da silva and bendtner or any other strikers we buy. As long as we keep a good defensive record,which we will as we have Fabianski who is quality, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEIdZORCJ9c , then there wont be a substantial amount of pressure on the strikers to score.
I’m from Croatian Gooner since 1998. , i have watched almost every Dinamo Zagreb match this season.
Croatian league is not something I would look when I want to see how good is he.
He’s really great player, plays great in national team but I would not consider him like proven player for the club like Arsenal. He will deliver, I’m sure of it but really can’t see him like someone who will replace players like Henry, Bergkamp…
But Wenger knows better than me and I trust him…
Thats the catch phrase Gooners, ‘wenger knows’……….
Henry who? was the words echoed around Highbury when Wenger 1st signed him and look at how Henry’s regarded in todays football….now i’m not saying for one second Da silva will be the “next Henry” as he is without doubt irreplacable but lets hope wengers found the next diamond in the dirt as he has shown in the past! I for one will back Eduardo all the way! C’mon you Gooners!!
The thing that agonises my the most is that we have 5 strikers. Ade, not much of a scoring record but is there for us in the big games. RVP, GREAT player scored some fantastic goals like the one at the valley or the goal in the 05-06 season away against blackburn and has proved(THIS SEASON ATLEAST) that he can score almost a goal every 2 or three games which isnt bad at all. What REALLY bugs me is that the other 3 strikers have NEVER scored in the premiership. But who knows, as the ol’ saying goes ” Wenger Knows Best ”
P.S
Good Points there JABBA
i was not born in croatia but my parents and sister were. i went there for a holiday and watched half of the season. i also watched da silva play in all the national matches so far and he is a great player. but some of you are forgetting that he is not just a poacher and great finisher but he can also assist a lot of goals. he was first in goals and assists last season.
he can also perform well in big matches. in the final of the Cro cup he scored a hat-trick and led the team to victory against the second best team in the league. he scored anothr hat-trick in the win over israel. it was the first time in years that the israeli’s had been defeated at home in years and teams the calibre of italy and england have failed.
another positive is he can score from half chances (see goal against estonia) and does nt waste too many chances.
Its a good signing, he would need to adopt to the premier league… lets see what happens…
i have a very strong feeling that wenger will try to fix eboue to the right wing…
someone mentioned baptista being a bad signing… well, baptista was a loan deal, so not necessarily a bad deal.. it was made exceptionally prominent because of all the injuries upfront for arsenal…
im very optimistic about this guy.he has a good eye for goal and his finishing is clinical. there is no doubt that wenger will play him as an out and out striker. last season henry used to drop back. this guy will definitely finish off those silky moves. im backing him to be a big success. he doesnt have the pressure of players like torres but he does have to show that he has the mettle to play in the premiership.
he is left footed though so i dont know if we will see a dudu RVP partnership up front. another player not getting enough plaudits is bendtner. i think he will also come into his own this coming season.
watch out for dudu, RvP, bendtner and manu. im tipping them to surprise many and help arsenal to launch a realistic title challenge and they will probably win a cup or two.
I agree but I think we’ll have to play slightly more direct, because like you say he won’t come deep like Henry, unless Bendtner will be used as a Target man.
Lets face it if someone had put away half of the chances Arsenal created last season they would have ended up with about 40 goals.
Cool, John. It’s nice to find “your” folks on the net. Peace!
Tigger, Baptista was so bad, he was definitely a worse signing than Reyes and i’d put him in the top 5 worst signings by Wenger. Eduardo will be exactly what Arsenal need and if he plays enough he will score 15 goals at least, plus he seems fast and looks like a good dribbler.
Cheers to ttts and John!