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Indian Super League franchise FC Pune City co-owned by the Rajesh Wadhawan Group and Hrithik Roshan have signed Iceland legend Eidur Smari Gudjohnsen as their marquee player for the third season of the ISL.
The 37-year-old was a part of Chelsea FC that won the Premier League twice in a row in 2004/05 and 2005/06 while also winning the La Liga and UEFA Champions League titles with FC Barcelona in the 2008/09 season.
The Icelandic legend started his club career with Valur in Reykjavik in 1994. From 1995, he played for PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands until 1998. He made his national team debut came at 17 against Estonia in Tallinn in April 1996 when he came on as a half-time substitute for his own father, Arnor Gudjohnsen.
“There were other clubs interested in me but when FC Pune City showed their interest, intent and plans, I knew this was it. I have the confidence of the coach and will ensure that they find it difficult to leave me out. Everyone needs to be motivated to succeed, and I have the same aim here. I love the sport. I still love going to training every day,” Gudjohnsen said.
In 1998, the forward joined Bolton Wanderers in England. And in his second season with the Trotters he became their top-scorer with 21 goals. This secured a four million pounds transfer to Chelsea FC in 2000.
After two successive title wins with Chelsea where he scored scored 78 goals in 263 appearances, Gudjohnsen joined European champions FC Barcelona in 2006. And his stay at the Catalan giants saw the club winning the treble in 2009 under Pep Guardiola.
He had a year-long spell at AS Monaco after which he came back to England to play for Tottenham Hotspur, Stoke City and Fulham. He left England to join AEK Athens for a year followed by a stint with Belgian clubs Cercle Brugge and Club Brugge. This was followed by an emotional return to Bolton in 2014, exactly 14 years after he left them to join Chelsea.
Gudjohnsen had a consistent run with Iceland till their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. The play-off defeat to Croatia in 2013 looked as if he was all but done until he made a goalscoring return in a Euro 2016 qualifier against Kazakhstan.
When Iceland coach Lars Lagerback named him in his 23-man squad for Euro 2016 in France, it injected a new life in the striker’s long career.
Head coach Antonio Habas was excited with the FC Pune City’s latest signing and said, “Eidur has experience of playing at highest levels and a professional motivation to succeed. I’ve admired him from afar for many years and I am very excited at the prospect of us working together for the benefit of FC Pune City.”
