Eat boot JT you little c**t

While every one's looking one way, Tevez, Eto'o etc and Ol' Arsene flips 'em the one-two and pulls Eduardo-da-Silva out of the proverbial magic hat (property of a Mr A Wenger)...

Eduardo Da Silva signs for Arsenal

Arsenal have swooped to sign Croatian international striker Eduardo da Silva from Dinamo Zagreb. The 24-year-old, who scored against England in a Euro 2008 qualifier in October, has signed a four-year contract at the Emirates Stadium.

"I am excited and happy in the same time, also a very proud that I am going to play in such a big club."

The fee is formally undisclosed (which I hear is around six million pounds (8.8 million euros)) and Da Silva will be unveiled as an Arsenal player after completing a medical at the club. Da Silva, originally a Brazilian national, moved to Croatia when he was 15 and was naturalized at 22. He has scored seven goals for his country.

Da Silva - or "Dudu" as his Brazilian nickname goes, speaks fluent Portuguese so should not have any problems fitting in with the growing Spanish/Brazilian contingent at Arsenal. The French spine seems to be on the Wane - the Samba/Flamenco Revolution is truly here.

In an interview with the Guardian earlier in June, Croatian coach Slavan Bilic had to say:

"There is a boy," he said, "who is very special. He came from Rio when he was 15, and you could put him now in the team at Manchester United and you wouldn't know he wasn't from there. Believe me, he will do things.

Da Silva scored the first competitive goal at the Emirates when Arsenal beat Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 on aggregate in last season's Champions League third qualifying round.

He finished the Croatian season with a record 34 goals in 32 games for Zagreb, and 7 in 12 for Croatia. Oh Yes - Arsene Does it again.....

So it happened, in the end a rather sombre departure of Arsenal's greatest striker...Henry has not left with a bang but with a wimper.

I'm split between writing a piece summarising all his past glories but realise this is probably being replicated many times on other blogs as I write, so I will not dwell in the past and I suggest the current members of the Arsenal board do the same. Instead I would prefer to look at who we could possibly get to fill Henry's rather large boots.

The first chink of light in the otherwise gloomy clouds on the horizon is the growth and development of Robin Van Persie, as a player I think he can now grow into the vacuum left by the departing Henry. He, as I pointed out earlier, was the top marksman in the premiership in terms of goals per minutes played (it is indeed unfortunate that he did not get a full season to test himself fully). When Henry was once quizzed on who he thought was the most technically gifted player in the Arsenal squad he replied that this was Van Persie by some distance. The only issue is whether at 24 he is ready for the challenge. The other caveat I have is he lacks the the outright speed that Henry had and as such not the complete striker, but with ball at foot he is right up there.



This leads me onto Theo Walcott. Pace he may have to burn but I worry how some fans seem to think he will simply step into the Henry role at such a young age. We would all love this to happen (next season people are welcome to give me some stick here if I'm wrong) but I'll go as far a saying this is simply not going to happen! I see him playing a big role in Arsenal's future as long as he is given the space and freedom to develop in his own time.

So what of outside the current team? There is a clear need now to sign both a left sided winger and now a experienced top level striker, someone who is in fact super-super class... My preference for a winger would be a young quality player - someone we can look to develop with the rest of the youth team, I would prefer a really direct player like Royston Drenthe or Alessandro Rosina. In terms of a striker, rumour has it we may be looking at Nicolas Anelka. It is not without a certain amount of reservation and irony that Henry's replacement should be his predecessor. I always looked at Anelka and thought what-if? I'm sure he probably looks at himself and thinks the same. Whether he

Forget Ryan Babel, Royston Drenthe is the star of the Dutch U21 side. This kid has a lot of class, phenomenal class....Damn-it!

Talk about: intelligence, power, acceleration, dribbling skills, passing vision and most importantly end-product, he has it all. Imagine a hybrid of Ronaldhino and Edgar Davids and you are beginning to form a picture of what he could bring to the party.

To be honest I just scratch my head and wonder how someone who was so clearly born to play as an attacking midfielder, could have been so woefully misplaced by his club positionally -- he is currently a Feyenoord's fullback...doh!



At the moment he is currently playing in the U21 competition, and stared in the game against portugal (which also featured Manchester United's new signing Nani...who incedently was totally outclassed by Drenthe).

Drenthe revealed he is content to carry on at Feyenoord, where he has a contract until 2011, though he told uefa.com he dreams of one day playing in England's Premier League. The team who signs this talent up are going to be onto a £30-40 million player in 3-4 years time, ...hopefully that team is Arsenal.....