Wenger - Eduardo can clear mental hurdles on road back

By Chris Harris

Arsène Wenger believes the biggest hurdle to Eduardo's recovery could be mental, not physical.

The Arsenal striker suffered a broken leg and a dislocated ankle at Birmingham on February 23 but is expected to return to action before the end of the year. Eduardo is currently in Brazil continuing his rehabilitation.

Wenger was upbeat about the Croatian's future when the topic cropped up at a Q&A with shareholders at Emirates Stadium. The Arsenal manager knows that Eduardo will face psychologicial challenges, like all victims of serious injuries, but Wenger is backing the 25-year-old to overcome them.

"The medical profession say he [will] make a full physical recovery," said the Frenchman. "We don't believe physically there will be a problem afterwards but how much impact it will have in his head when he sees the tackles flying in again, only the future will tell us.

"We believe medically there is no problem, he will play again, but after that how well can he deal with it? He is a tough boy so I am confident he will deal with it.

"At the moment we sent him to Sao Paolo, where he was born, where he can wait before he starts rehabilitation. There is a good physio there in Sao Paolo who he knows, and he is taking care of him. When he is ready to start training at the beginning of the season he will come back of course.

"We expect him to be out completely for six months but to play really at the top, top level, it will be nine months [from when he was injured]."

sportski novinar bbc-a i jedan od voditelja popularne emisije "match of the day", adrian chiles, mogao bi napraviti intervju s duduom. chiles je naime hrvat sa majcine strane i navodno je jako vezan za hrvatsku. uvijek je spreman i voljan dati intervju za nase medije, znao je ponekad i pozvati hrvate u neku od svojih emisija. bio bi pravi covjek da intervjuira dudua kad se vrati iz brazila.