He made 41 Premier League appearances for Arsenal – and now he’s preparing for an extraordinary comeback in England’s 10th tier.
Eduardo da Silva has been coaxed out of retirement by Dorset-based Gillingham Town, who ply their trade in the Western League Division One – five divisions below even League Two, the bottom tier of English professional football.
The Brazilian-born ex-Croatia international hung up his boots in 2018 after a brief stint with Polish giants Legia Warsaw.
But Eduardo looks set to take to the pitch once again, having come into Gillingham Town as an ambassador but expressed his intention to register as a player. He told The Sun:
“My son is at Flamengo’s academy, but I didn’t play for a big club in Brazil. In every community, there are hidden gems like me and that’s why I was delighted to become ambassador for Gillingham Town and help them recruit sponsors.
“We’ve even discussed registering me to play in the league. I want to play because even though I am retired, I still play football with my friends in Brazil.”
Remarkably, the 2006 Croatian Footballer of the Year isn’t the only one-time Arsenal player currently working in an ambassadorial capacity for Gillingham Town: his former Gunners teammate Denilson does likewise, with the club boasting strong Brazilian links through co-director Alex Bernardes.
Eduardo joined Arsenal from Dinamo Zagreb for £7.5m in the summer of 2007 and spent three years with the Gunners, scoring 21 goals in 67 appearances overall.
However, his time in North London was severely disrupted by the horrific broken leg he suffered in a game at Birmingham City just six months into his first season.