Eduardo and his link to Purple Rain

Quick story for our readers...

Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva, born in Brasil, naturalized as a Croatian and an Arsenal player as of the '07-'08 season is the man. We'd just begun pegging him as a look alike, in his facial hair style if nothing else, of Prince circa his height of power in the 1980s. This was just about the time that everyone you knew had a Prince pin on their jean jackets on the playground.

Eduardo was just beginning to assert himself as a crack goal scorer when a horrible tackle from Birmingham's Martin Tayler gave him one of the most severely broken legs you'll ever see. This was essentially the death knell on Arsenal's season, but that's another story all together. What matters here is that Eduardo looks like Prince. And Prince's best song, in the opinion of many is "Purple Rain." So with Eduardo out, the rallying cry for Arsenal in their continued, yet failing push to end the season as Champions was simple ...

That cry ran through the summer as his international mates from Croatia took the field under The Man with All the Answers, Slavan Bilic. Win it for Eduardo! Do it for Eduardo! For Eduardo! Everything was done in his name. What a likable guy, what an amazing striker, wow does he ever look like Prince! Purple Rain became the soundtrack to some incredible afternoons of football ... perhaps most notably Russia v. Spain during the European Champions in the Summer of '08. Torrential downpour outside, full house inside, a Purple Rain waking the neighbors five blocks away, the beautiful game reaching its apex (who needs the middling detail of scoring a goal, football is existential!). All in the name of Eduardo. 

And now he's almost back. Arsene says he'll get his first reserve match on December 16 against Portsmouth. It's miraculous how he's been able to get back and recover so quickly. Hopefully he'll make it through his paces. We'll all be pulling for him.