Eiður Guðjohnsen
Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen, known in English as Eidur Gudjohnsen (born September 15 1978 in Reykjavík), is an Icelandic football player who was until June 2006 a striker for the English Premiership club Chelsea. On 14th June 2006 he joined the Catalan club FC Barcelona. 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. 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 debut 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 £4,000,000 by then boss Gianluca Vialli. He formed a deadly partnership with Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink during the 2001/2002 season, bagging 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. [1]
After the arrival of Roman Abramovich as the owner of Chelsea FC, and the subsequent influx of expensive and high-profile players including Adrian Mutu, Didier Drogba and Hernan Crespo, there was some concern that he might not be able to secure a regular place. Having played regularly throughout 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 it appeared that the continued signing of new players would significantly limit his match-time for the 2006/2007 season, if he remained at the club.
Often regarded as having one of the best techniques in world football, his dribbling and close-control - combined with his deadly finishing - have seen him score some remarkable goals. His overhead kick against Leeds in the 2002/2003 season for Chelsea is perhaps his finest strike to date. Other notable goals came against Fulham at Stamford Bridge in 2003/2004, number ten in the 2004/2005 Premier League Goals of the Season which came 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 has 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. 'Guddy' said he admired the manager and was satisfied with his new role in the team. In an interview at Chelsea's official website he said he would like to score more goals in his central midfielder position.
Despite Eidur's adept displays in a number of roles, his game-time was limited in Chelsea's second consecutive Premiership-winning season, finding 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 regarding Gudjohnsen's future at Chelsea. Despite being linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid, amongst others, on 14th June 2006 it was announced that he had joined FC Barcelona on a three year contract, with the option of an additional year. [[2]] The fee was claimed to be €12 million euros with an additional €3 million euros depending on appearances and performances.
Note
1 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.