Eiður Guðjohnsen

Eiður Guðjohnsen

Personal information
Full name	Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder / Forward
Team information
Current team	AEK Athens
Number	22
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995	Valur Reykjavík	44	(39)
1995–1997	PSV	13	(3)
1997	KR Reykjavík	6	(0)
1998–2000	Bolton Wanderers	59	(19)
2000–2006	Chelsea	196	(54)
2006–2009	Barcelona	109	(19)
2009–2010	Monaco	9	(0)
2010	→ Tottenham Hotspur (loan)	11	(2)
2010–2011	Stoke City	4	(0)
2011	→ Fulham (loan)	14	(2)
2011-	AEK Athens	0	(0)
International career‡
1992–1994	Iceland U17	27	(6)
1994	Iceland U19	9	(2)
1994–1998	Iceland U21	11	(5)
1996–	Iceland	64	(24)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 April 2011 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 6 June 2011

Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen (born 15 September 1978) is an Icelandic footballer who currently plays for AEK Athens F.C. in the Superleague Greece. He has previously played for Premier League club Chelsea and FC Barcelona of Spain, having made his name with Bolton Wanderers. He was the captain of the Iceland national team until manager Ólafur Jóhannesson took over the team. Throughout his professional career, Guðjohnsen has scored 160 goals in all competitions with his clubs and the national team. He is the son of Arnór Guðjohnsen, a former professional footballer. He is often considered to be one of the greatest Icelandic footballers, having won titles in the Netherlands, Spain, and England as well as the Champions League.

Club career

Early career

On 24 April 1996, Guðjohnsen and his father Arnór 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 Macedonia two months later in the first qualification round for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

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 club's 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, including scoring the only goal in a tense FA Cup quarter-final game against Charlton Athletic.

New chairman Phil Gartside announced that it would take at least £10 million to prise Guðjohnsen away from Bolton. 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. 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.

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. Overall, with 263 appearances for Chelsea, Guðjohnsen is Chelsea's fourth highest overseas appearance-maker.

FC Barcelona

Guðjohnsen playing for Barcelona.

Guðjohnsen was signed by FC Barcelona to replace Henrik Larsson, who had decided to finish his career at his home town club of Helsingborg in Sweden. The fee was claimed to be €12 million with an additional €3 million depending on appearances and performances. Gudjohnnsen was also the first ever player from Iceland to play for the club.

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 semi finals.

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 moves back to the Premier League with Newcastle United, Manchester United and Sunderland reportedly interested. 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 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 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 being 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 FC 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 FC 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. 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. He made his 100th appearance in a Barca shirt that season. Guðjohnsen became the first Icelander to win the Champions League trophy as Barcelona won the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final against defending champions, Manchester United, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Monaco

During the summer of 2009, Guardiola stated that Gudjohnsen was not part of his plans for next season. He later joined Ligue 1 club AS Monaco FC on a two year deal. He was loaned out to Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur in the winter of 2010.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 28 January 2010, Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp confirmed that Guðjohnsen had joined the club on loan for the remainder of 2009–10 season, despite undergoing a medical at West Ham United. The striker was offered an identical deal by both clubs; however, Guðjohnsen opted to join Spurs. West Ham's new co-owner David Sullivan was outraged at hearing of Redknapp's interest in Guðjohnsen, and was quoted as saying "We thought we had a deal and the player had even had a medical. We then heard that Tottenham were trying to speak to the player. I can't say I am happy about it." He got his Spurs career off to a solid start with two goals in a friendly match against Dagenham and Redbridge on 3 February. On the 10 February 2010, Guðjohnsen made his full Spurs debut alongside Jermain Defoe as a striker in a 1–0 away defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers. He scored his first goal for Tottenham against Stoke City on 20 March 2010 also making way for the second goal which led to his team's victory.

Stoke City

Guðjohnsen signed for Stoke City on a one-year deal on 31 August 2010 and made his debut for Stoke on 18 September in a 1-1 draw against West Ham United. As he did not attend pre-season training with Monaco, Guðjohnsen began his Stoke career by doing an intense training schedule in order to become fit. He is also playing with the reserves to gain match practice and scored his first goal for the second string in a 2–1 win over Leeds United reserves. After only making five substitute appearances for Stoke, Gudjohnsen left on the final day of the January transfer window to join Fulham on loan.

After an unsuccessful time at Stoke he was released at the end of the 2010–11 season.

Fulham

On 31 January 2011, Guðjohnsen signed on loan to Fulham until the end of the 2010–2011 season. Guðjohnsen made his first appearance for Fulham as a late substitute in the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa on 5 February 2011.

AEK Athens

On 19 July 2011 Gudjohnsen signed a two-year deal with AEK Athens keeping him at the club until 2013 despite interest from English clubs West Ham and Swansea. Gudjohnsen's contract is worth €1.2M earning €650K per-season including bonuses that can reach up to €1.5M. Gudjohnsen was a key target for AEK Athens as he is a versatile player who can play as Left midfielder, Attacking midfielder and a Striker. The former Chelsea and Barcelona forward was greeted by over 2,500 thousand AEK Athens fans at the city's Eleftherios Venizelos airport breaking former AEK and Brazilian star Rivaldo's greeting.

Shortly after signing a new 2-year contract with AEK Athens, Gudjohnsen stated to the press after he was greeted by the AEK fans, "It was unbelievable, I have played and been in many countries but I have never seen anything like this before. It really made me feel welcomed. I was informed that I would have been greeted but this was not what I had in mind. I am a 100% sure I have made the right choice going to AEK. I have came for trophies and nothing else. The least thing I can do is help AEK achieve there expectations after the way I was greeted at the airport.". Gudjohnsen will also play alongside Icelandic Centre back Elfar Freyr Helgason who was recently signed by AEK.

International career

Guðjohnsen made his debut for the Iceland national under-17 football team in 1992 at the age of 14. He went on to score seven goals in 26 appearances for the team before progressing to the under-19 side in 1994. He netted twice in nine caps for the under-19s, before making his debut for the Iceland national under-21 football team later in the year. He represented the under-21s for four years, scoring a total of four goals in 11 caps.

Guðjohnsen joined the Iceland national team in 1996 and since then has been capped 61 times and scored 24 times, becoming 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.

Gudjohnsen once replaced his father as a substitute, he is the only player to achieve this feat.

Statistics

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Honours

Club

PSV Eindhoven

• Eredivisie: 1996–97
• KNVB Cup: 1995–96
• Johan Cruijff Shield: 1996

KR Reykjavík

• VISA-bikar: 1998

Chelsea

• Premier League: 2004–05, 2005–06
• FA Community Shield: 2000, 2005
• Football League Cup: 2004–05

Barcelona

• La Liga: 2008–09
• UEFA Super Cup: 2009
• Copa del Rey: 2008–09
• Supercopa de España: 2006, 2009
• UEFA Champions League: 2008–09

External links

• Eidur Gudjohnsen at Soccerbase
• FootballDatabase provides Eiður Guðjohnsen's profile and stats
• Guðjohnsen Video Career
• BBC profile
• Premier League profile