Transfer news – Shakhtar close in on £6million Eduardo
Published:Arsenal striker Eduardo looks to be heading back east, with Ukranian champions Shakhtar Donetsk offering around £6million for the Croatia international.
Donetsk are thought to head a clutch of clubs after Eduardo, pipping Aston Villa and Besiktas to the punch by being able to offer the player Champions League football and £50,000-a-week wages.
Donetsk are 100/1 to win the Champions League, having qualified for the group stages already.
Arsene Wenger signed the 27-year-old three summers ago for around £10million from Dinamo Zagreb but his career in England stalled after Martin Taylor’s horror tackle shattered his ankle.
That was in February 2008 with the Gunners going full throtle for the title and Eduardo putting in increasingly good displays.
The Brazil-born forward didn’t play Premier League football until the opening day of last season and throughout the campaign it was clear he had lost a bit of pace and nerve.
With Marouane Chamakh coming in Wenger has decided it’s time to recoup some money for Eduardo, who only scored six league goals for Arsenal (6/1 to win the Premier League), compared to 34 in 32 matches for Dinamo in his last season there.
Eduardo has a decent international strike rate, having bagged 18 goals in 29 games for Croatia, and will hope a fresh location can help him regain form for his nation, who are 11/10 favourites to top their Euro 2012 qualifying group.
Shakhtar will be playing in their first Champions League since going out in the group stages of the 2008/09 tournament and Eduardo should lend them a guile in Europe’s top tier – he scored four in four starts in the competition for Arsenal (who are 16/1 to win the Champions League).
Donetsk beat eventual-winners Barcelona 3-2 in the Nou Camp in that campaign, before going on to win the Europa League themselves but were knocked out in that competition’s round-of-32 by Fulham last season.
After resigning Dmytro Chygrynskiy from Barca, Shakhtar’s squad is beginning to look capable of causing a surprise in the Champions League, which they are 100/1 to win. See the full Champions League betting market.
