Eiður Guðjohnsen
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker/ Attacking midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | FC Barcelona | ||
| Number | 7 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1994 | Valur Reykjavík | ||
| 1994–1997 | PSV | ||
| 1998 | KR Reykjavík | ||
| 1998–2000 | Bolton Wanderers | ||
| 2000–2006 | Chelsea | ||
| 2006– | FC Barcelona | ||
| International career‡ | |||
| 1996– | Iceland | ||
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 11 April 2009 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 September 2008 | |||
Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen (born 15 September 1978 in Reykjavík), known in English as Eidur Gudjohnsen, is an Icelandic football player who is currently an attacking midfielder for FC Barcelona, having signed for the Spanish club on 14 June 2006. For the six previous years, he had been a second striker with the English Premiership club Chelsea, having made his name with Bolton Wanderers. He was the captain of the Iceland national team until manager Ólafur Jóhannesson took over the team. For Barcelona, he wears the number 7 shirt and for Iceland, number 9 where he plays in his primary position as a Striker So far in his professional football career, Guðjohnsen has scored 156 goals in all competitions with his clubs and the national team. He is the son of Arnór Guðjohnsen, a former professional footballer. He is considered the greatest Icelandic footballer having won titles in Spain and England as well as the Champions League title.
Club career
Early career
On 24 April 1996, Guðjohnsen and his father entered football history when playing in an international friendly for Iceland against Estonia in Tallinn. Arnór started the match, and Guðjohnsen came on in the second half as a substitute for his father.
Both father and son have later expressed bitterness at the fact that they were not allowed to play together in the match. The president of the Icelandic FA, Eggert Magnússon (later of West Ham United) gave the coach, Logi Ólafsson, an express order to not play them together because he wanted it to happen on home turf, when Iceland played FYR Macedonia two months later in the first qualification round for the 1998 FIFA World Cup[1].
As it happened they never got another chance because a month after the game in Estonia the younger Guðjohnsen broke his ankle, playing for the Icelandic U18 team against Ireland. He had difficulty coming back because of undiagnosed tendinitis in that ankle.
Guðjohnsen had then been with PSV in the Netherlands for two years and much had been expected of him, as well as another young hopeful, the Brazilian Ronaldo. During Guðjohnsen's injury struggles, PSV finally released him. At the same time, Ronaldo went on to Barcelona, the club where Guðjohnsen would end up ten years later.
After a spell in Iceland with KR Reykjavík, Guðjohnsen signed with Bolton Wanderers in 1998.
He has later said that the help he got from former Iceland international, Bolton's defensive stalwart Guðni Bergsson, was incredible.
Bolton Wanderers
Guðjohnsen was unveiled to the Bolton supporters prior to their pre-season friendly with the Scottish club Celtic in a game which was arranged as a testimonial for long serving defender Jimmy Phillips, now a first team coach at Bolton. Guðjohnsen had impressed on the clubs summer tour of Ireland and was given a contract by the then Bolton manager Colin Todd.
Overweight and unfit, it was going to take time for Guðjohnsen to return to the level he needed to be and a brief substitute appearance against Birmingham in September 1998 meant that the Icelander had taken a step further on the road to recovery.
By early 1999, Todd decided to put Guðjohnsen into the senior team full time to help freshen up a Bolton forward line which was decimated by the sale of Arnar Gunnlaugsson to Leicester City and Nathan Blake to Blackburn Rovers.
Guðjohnsen's return to the team saw him score in a 3-3 draw against struggling Swindon Town at the County Ground and again in the next game against Barnsley at the Reebok Stadium. By the end of the season he had scored five goals in all competitions.
He helped Bolton to the play off finals against Watford in 1999 but they lost the game 2-0 with the goals coming from Nick Wright and Allan Smart.
Starting in all but seven of Bolton's games in the 1999-2000 season, Guðjohnsen partnered a number of players in the Trotters forward line including Dean Holdsworth, Bo Hansen and Bob Taylor.
He scored 21 goals in the English First Division 1999–2000 season for the Trotters and helped them to the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and League Cup.
New chairman Phil Gartside announced that it would take at least £10 million to prize Guðjohnsen away from Bolton.[citation needed] After helping the Wanderers to the League Cup and FA Cup Semi Finals, it was now his main aim to get the club into the Premiership.[citation needed] He was injured against Ipswich Town in the first leg of the Play Off Semi Finals and missed the controversial second leg which saw twelve Bolton players booked and Mike Whitlow and Robbie Elliott sent off by match official Barry Knight. Speculation increased about his future despite his willingness to stay with Bolton.
Chelsea
In the 2000 close season, during a period of financial troubles at Bolton, he was signed by Chelsea for a fee of £4 million by Gianluca Vialli (who was sacked in September of that year to be succeeded by Claudio Ranieri). 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.[2]
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, ranked ten in the 2004–05 Premier League Goals of the Season against Southampton in 2005, and his first professional hat-trick against Blackburn Rovers in October 2004, he also made around 60 assists during his time with Chelsea. His touch and vision saw Chelsea manager José Mourinho deploy Guðjohnsen into a deeper midfield role, to which he took readily. He ended up as a utility player: he performed as a central-midfielder; as a right or left winger; as a holding-defensive midfielder or as a striker.
After the arrival of Roman Abramovich as the owner of Chelsea in 2003, and the subsequent influx of expensive and high-profile players including Adrian Mutu, Didier Drogba and Hernán Crespo, his first team place seemed under threat. Despite this, he played regularly throughout the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons, playing a significant role in the Premier League title triumph in 2005, scoring a total of 12 league goals. Eiður also scored in Chelsea 4-2 win over Barcelona in the 2004-05 Champions League quarter-final.
With Chelsea making several big-name signings in the 2006 close season, notably strikers Andriy Shevchenko and Salomon Kalou and midfielder Michael Ballack, there was growing speculation concerning Guðjohnsen's opportunities for playing time in the 2006-07 Premier League 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 Barcelona on a three year contract, with the option of an additional year.
FC Barcelona
Guðjohnsen was signed by Barcelona to replace Henrik Larsson, who had decided to finish his career at his home town club of Helsingborg in Sweden.[3][4] The fee was claimed to be €12 million with an additional €3 million depending on appearances and performances.
On 28 August 2006, Guðjohnsen made his La Liga debut in a match against Celta Vigo. With three minutes remaining in the match, he scored the game-winning goal, leading Barcelona to a 3-2 win. When a Celta defender tried to block Guðjohnsen's first attempt at a shot, he flicked the ball in the air and volleyed it past the keeper. Guðjohnsen scored against Chelsea in the Champions League in October 2006, and recorded a brace against RCD Mallorca in mid-November. He scored one of the goals against Werder Bremen, 2-0, to take Barcelona to the final sixteen of the Champions League. Guðjohnsen also gained fame in the United States when he scored an impressive goal against Mexican champions Club Deportivo Guadalajara in front of nearly 100,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On 6 December 2006, Guðjohnsen scored in a 4-0 win against Club América in the FIFA Club World Cup semifinals.
On 6 March 2007, Guðjohnsen scored for Barcelona as they fought to overturn their disadvantage in a UEFA Champions League match against Liverpool at Anfield. Despite winning the match, Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League on away goals. He ended the 2006-07 season with 12 goals in all competitions. Only three of the biggest Barcelona stars, Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi, scored more goals. Guðjohnsen was, in fact, the club's top scorer in the Champions League, albeit with only 3 goals.
Although Guðjohnsen played reasonably well in his first season with Barcelona, he did not seem to have fulfilled the expectations of either Frank Rijkaard or the Barcelona fans. During the summer of 2007 he was widely expected to be moving on and was linked with virtually every Premier League team in England. Barcelona did, however, not take any concrete steps to off-load him. Because of injury, nothing happened and, in autumn, Guðjohnsen took his place on the Barcelona bench. He claimed he was determined to fight his way back into the team but as Barcelona had by now acquired the services of Thierry Henry and given first-team places to young strikers Giovani dos Santos and Bojan Krkić, he faced a formidable task.
Guðjohnsen made his first appearance of the season on 23 October against Rangers F.C. in the Champions League, playing as a centre midfielder and he scored his first goal of the 2007-08 season from the penalty spot in the 89th minute in Barcelona's 3-0 Copa del Rey victory over C.D. Alcoyano on 13 November. Guðjohnsen scored his first La Liga goal, of the season in Barça's highest win (3-0) at Mestalla against Valencia CF since the 1997-98 season and on 20 February 2007, he made his 50th appearance in a UEFA Champions League match. During Barcelona's troubled season, Guðjohnsen did manage to become a regular member of Rijkaard's team, playing in altogether 34 games, but only starting 18 times and often replaced. Only on four occasions did he play the full 90 minutes. Guðjohnsen saved his best performance for the last La Liga match, against relegated Real Murcia, when his fluid midfield play drew rave reviews, although he did not score.
As Barcelona's new coach, Josep Guardiola, was widely thought to plan to off-load Guðjohnsen, together with a host of other players, most people thought this would have been his last game for Barça. Interest from several Premier League clubs duly materialized in the next few weeks, notably from West Ham United and Portsmouth. At the end of July, Guardiola seemed to have changed his opinion and Guðjohnsen played a considerable role in Barcelona's pre-season matches, even scoring two goals against Hibernian.Guðjohnsen declared that Guardiola had expressed more faith in him and he was likely to stay in Spain next season.[5] On 21 September, Guðjohnsen played his first game of the new season, coming on as a substitute in the 71st minute in Barcelona's thrashing of Sporting Gijón, 6-1. He did not score but played well and was involved in the last two goals, both scored by Lionel Messi. Three days later, on September 24, he again came off the bench in the 70th minute, this time against Real Betis, when he replaced Seydou Keita and managed to score the winning goal in a 3-2 win, 9 minutes later after coming on. Shortly after, on the 27th of September, Guðjohnsen got his first start of the season, against RCD Espanyol After this he has had his best season in Barcelona although not scoring as much as in the first. Guðjohnsen has competed with Seydou Keita for playing time and has made frequent appearances with a fair amount of starts. Despite this Eiður will probably seek a new team come summer due to the fact that his playing time has decreased during the season. He made his 100th appearance in a Barca shirt this season. Guðjohnsen got his first Champions League trophy as Barcelona won the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final against defending champions, Manchester United, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and became the first Icelander to achieve it.
International career
Guðjohnsen joined the Iceland national team in 1996 and since then he has been capped 58 times and scored 23 times he is the highest goalscorer for Iceland. He surpassed Ríkharður Jónsson's Icelandic record of 17 international goals on 13 October 2007 by scoring twice in a 2-4 home loss to Latvia. He is the only player to come on as a substitute for his own father.
Personal life
He has three children, Sveinn Aron and Andri Lucas, and a baby boy with his wife, Ragnhildur. Sveinn Aron plays for the Barcelona youth team.
Statistics
All-time club performance
As of May 30, 2009[6][7] Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1995||Valur||Úrvalsdeild||17||7||||||||||17||7 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1995-96||rowspan="2"|PSV||rowspan="2"|Eredivisie||13||3||||||||||13||3 |- |1996-97||0||0||||||||||0||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1998||KR Reykjavík||Úrvalsdeild||6||0||||||||||6||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1998-99||rowspan="2"|Bolton Wanderers||rowspan="2"|First Division||14||5||4||0||||||18||5 |- |1999-00||41||13||11||8||||||52||21 |- |2000-01||rowspan="6"|Chelsea||rowspan="6"|Premier League||30||10||5||3||2||0||37||13 |- |2001-02||29||14||11||6||3||3||43||23 |- |2002-03||35||10||7||0||2||0||44||10 |- |2003-04||25||6||5||4||10||3||43||13 |- |2004-05||37||12||9||2||11||2||59||16 |- |2005-06||26||2||5||1||6||0||37||3 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2006-07||rowspan="3"|FC Barcelona||rowspan="3"|La Liga||25||5||9||3||9||4||43||12 |- |2007-08||23||2||6||1||8||0||37||3 |- |2008-09||24||3||5||1||4||0||33||4 Template:Football player statistics 323||7||||||||||23||7 Template:Football player statistics 413||3||||||||||13||3 Template:Football player statistics 4237||72||57||24||34||8||333||104 Template:Football player statistics 472||10||20||5||21||4||113||19 Template:Football player statistics 5343||93||75||29||55||12||481||133 |}
Honours
- Dutch Eredivisie: 1997
- Dutch Cup: 1996
- Dutch Super Cup: 1996
- VISA-bikar cup: 1998
- FA Premier League: 2004-05, 2005-06
- FA Cup: 2002 (runner-up)
- Football League Cup: 2005
- FA Community Shield: 2000, 2005
- 2004 FA Summer Tournament: 2004 (3rd Place)
- FA Premiership Goal of the Month: January 2003
References
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/sports/soccer/05soccer.html?_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
- ^ Gudjohnsen in casino woe, BBC Sport, January 12, 2003
- ^ Guðjohnsen completes Barça move, BBC Sport, June 14, 2006
- ^ Guðjohnsen set to sign, FC Barcelona, June 14, 2006
- ^ http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada08-09/08/n080801102661.html
- ^ Soccernet player statistics
- ^ Footballdatabase player statistics
External links
- 1978 births
- Living people
- People from Reykjavík
- Icelandic expatriates in the United Kingdom
- Football (soccer) forwards
- Icelandic footballers
- Iceland international footballers
- Icelandic expatriate footballers
- Valur players
- PSV Eindhoven players
- KR Reykjavík players
- Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
- Chelsea F.C. players
- FC Barcelona footballers
- Premier League players
- La Liga footballers
- Eredivisie players