Welcome home, Eduardo…

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Cesc Fabregas could make his comeback in tonight’s Champions League clash at the home of football against Shaktar Donetsk…but surely the loudest cheer of the evening will be for the one that got away away. Or, rather, was allowed to get away.
Tonight’s game sees the return of Eduardo – the player we loved and wanted to love more but who never fulfilled his potential after that imbecile Martin Taylor broke his leg at Birmingham in February 2008.
Eddie scored eight times in 41 league games for us in three years and we all hoped he would enjoy a long and fruitful career with us but it wasn’t to be.
This is how AW sees it: “I will be happy and sad to see Eduardo. I will be happy because he was always a fantastic boy with a fantastic mentality and sad because I worked very hard to get him here and he left with the feeling that he could not completely fulfil the promise he had in the first season.
“That was down to the fact he was injured for a long time and somebody else moved in front of him. It is very difficult to ­quantify how good he could have been. He just had the class of an Arsenal player.
“He didn’t lose his ability, he lost his confidence. You never know exactly about the psychological damage to a player, because there is physical damage. You never know how much psychologically.
“Most of the time when they get into a position, exactly into the position they got injured, they have a ­resistance. It is unbelievable. They play normally until they get into that position and then have a reluctance.
“In his case, it is difficult to measure. Is it the time he was out? Was it some players moved in front? Don’t forget after the injury I extended his contract. Last year he had shown signs he was coming back to his normal level.
“After that, he had muscular problems, was in and out then decided to go. There was no interest from a club in England. But Shakhtar wanted him last year when I extended his contract.”
On tonight’s game he added: “What is interesting is that with a win we could focus on the league better. It gives us an opportunity to basically think we have qualified. We have a big part to play in the championship and, after Shakhtar, we have a very big game at Manchester City.”