Eduardo Da Silva

Eduardo Alves da Silva ( born 25 February 1983), commonly known as Eduardo, sometimes nicknamed Dudu, is a Brazilian-born Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward. Capable of playing any forward position, he started as a striker, but is deployed mostly as a winger or second striker during the last few years. He began his career with his hometown club in Brazil, Bangu Atlético Clube. He later joined Dinamo Zagreb's youth team. He spent a period on loan at Inter Zapresic, scoring 10 goals in 15 matches. His prolific scoring at Dinamo Zagreb, where he scored 73 times in 109 league appearances, attracted the interest of Arsenal who signed him for a fee of £7.5 million in 2007. A serious leg injury hampered his time with Arsenal and, after three seasons with the club, he moved to Shakhtar Donetsk in 2010. Eduardo took up Croatian citizenship in 2002 and made his international debut for the Croatian senior team as a second-half substitute in a friendly match against the Republic of Ireland on 16 November 2004 at the age of 21. He was selected by the national team's coach Slaven Bilic for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament and again by Niko Kovac for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. With 29 goals scored for Croatia, Eduardo is the team's third most prolific striker on record, behind Mario Mandzukic (33 goals) and Davor Suker (45 goals).