Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen

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Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen, known in English as Eidur Gudjohnsen (born September 15 1978 in Reykjavík), is an Icelandic football player who is a striker with FC Barcelona, having signed for the Catalan club on 14 June 2006. For the six previous years he had been a striker with the English Premiership club Chelsea. He is the captain of the Iceland national team.

His father Arnór Guðjohnsen¹ was one of the top players in Icelandic history, and played most of his football career in Belgium (most notably at Anderlecht). Eiður was born when his father was 17, just before Arnór moved to Belgium. After the family returned to Iceland at the end of his father's Belgian career, Eiður joined the Reykjavík club Valur, making his first-team début as a 15-year-old. In 1994, he joined Dutch power PSV Eindhoven. Despite competing with several other top strikers, including a young Ronaldo, he made his PSV first-team debut at 17, and shortly thereafter played in the Champions League against Barcelona.

On 24 April 1996, he and his father entered football history in an Iceland international friendly against Estonia in Tallinn. Arnór started the match, and Eiður came on in the second half as a substitute for his father. This was the first time that a father and son had ever played in the same international match.

Late in 1996, Eiður broke his ankle, and had difficulty coming back because of undiagnosed tendonitis in that ankle. During his injury struggles, PSV released him. After a spell in Iceland with KR Reykjavík, he signed with Bolton Wanderers in 1998, scoring 21 goals in the English First Division 1999–2000 season for the Trotters and helping them to the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and League Cup. In the 2000 off season, during a period of financial troubles at Bolton, he was signed by Chelsea for a fee of £4 million by then boss Gianluca Vialli. He formed a deadly partnership with Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink during the 2001–02 season, scoring 23 goals himself and helping Hasselbaink to a tally of 27.

Early in 2003, he admitted to a gambling problem, confessing to having lost £400,000 in casinos over a five-month period. [link]

His dribbling and close-control, combined with his deadly finishing, saw him score some remarkable goals during his time at Chelsea. His overhead kick against Leeds in the 2002–03 season for Chelsea is perhaps his finest strike to date. Other notable goals came against Fulham at Stamford Bridge in 2003–04, number ten in the 2004–05 Premier League Goals of the Season against Southampton in 2005, and his first ever professional hat-trick against Blackburn Rovers in October 2004. His touch and vision saw Chelsea manager José Mourinho deploy Eiður into a deeper midfield role, to which he took readily. He was named "the blonde Maradona" by the Portuguese manager in December 2005 after a world-class performance in Upton Park against West Ham.

After the arrival of Roman Abramovich as the owner of Chelsea FC in 2003, and the subsequent influx of expensive and high-profile players including Adrian Mutu, Didier Drogba and Hernan Crespo, there was some opinion that he might not be able to secure a regular place in the team. Despite this, he played regularly throughout the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons. However, in 2005-06, Chelsea's second consecutive Premiership-winning season, he found himself behind Michael Essien in midfield, and both Hernán Crespo and Didier Drogba in attack.

With Chelsea making several big-name signings in the 2006 off-season, notably strikers Andriy Shevchenko and Salomon Kalou and midfielder Michael Ballack, there was growing speculation concerning Gudjohnsen's opportunities for playing time in the 2006-07 season and his future at Chelsea. Despite being linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid, amongst others, on 14 June 2006 it was announced that he had joined FC Barcelona on a three year contract, with the option of an additional year. He was signed to replace Henrik Larsson, who had decided to finish his career at his home town club of Helsingborg in Sweden. [link] [link] The fee was claimed to be €12 million with an additional €3 million depending on appearances and performances.

Notes

His family does not follow the traditional naming conventions of Iceland. He and his father are among the approximately 10% of the Icelandic population whose ancestors had acquired inherited family names by 1913 and are allowed by Icelandic law to maintain those names.

External links

FC Barcelona - Current Squad
1 Víctor Valdés \| 2 Belletti \| 3 Motta \| 4 Márquez \| 5 Puyol \| 6 Xavi \| 7 Gudjohnsen \| 8 Giuly \| 9 Eto'o \| 10 Ronaldinho \| 12 Gio \| 14 Ezquerro \| 15 Edmílson \| 16 Sylvinho \| 17 van Bommel \| 19 Messi \| 20 Deco \| 23 Oleguer \| 24 Iniesta \| 25 Jorquera

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