3 July 2000: Edu joins Arsenal

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by Tony Attwood

Eduardo César Daude Gaspar (Edu) joined Arsenal from Corinthians on this day in 2000.  Unfortunately, his Portuguese passport was a fake, but he qualified for an Italian passport because his father was Italian.  He signed again for Arsenal on 16 January 2001.

He finally played for Arsenal in 2001 in a goalless draw coming on as a sub but then going off again after he got injured. But he did come on as a sub in the 2002 FA Cup final – and so that season was the first Brazilian ever to win the Premier League.

Finally, in 2003/4 he shook off his injuries and became part of the Invincibles, playing 30 games, including in the title winner at WHL.

He left Arsenal in May 2005 signing a five-year deal with Valencia but he suffered a pre-season injury that meant he missed almost all the season. After the cancellation of his contract Edu signed with his former club the Corinthians, in 2009 and in 2010 he retired from playing.

During his playing days he also played for Brazil, including in the Copa América win of 2004.

After playing he took over as director of football at Corinthians, and then from 2016 to 2019 he was the general coordinator of the Brazilian national team before, on 9 July 2019, it was announced that Edu had become Arsenal’s first-ever technical director.

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