Eduardo: My Botched Op Hell

Striker's grief as foot is reattached backwards

Eduardo: Heel thyself

Ankle: A lot better than it was

Beach football: Must stay at least 100 yards away from

Eduardo has revealed his struggle to rebuild his career after surgeons bungled the reattachment of his foot, removed after the horror tackle he received over a year ago.

Lost

The Arsenal forward missed a year of football after his leg was mangled by Birmingham City's Martin Taylor. Medical experts feared they would lose the foot, but they managed to keep track of it and reattach it - unfortunately in their rush they connected the ankle bone to the leg bone THE WRONG WAY ROUND.

Bones

The surgeon responsible for the botched procedure, Dr Julius Limbani, has claimed that the striker is no worse off with his misaligned foot than he was before the injury: "The foot is in perfect working order, albeit 180 degrees out of line. There could be some positive advantages having it this way."

Ever the professional, the crest-fallen Croat has vowed to continue playing despite his imposed deformity and has been intensely developing new skills such as the "back-toe" and the "heel-punt". Skills he put to sensational affect in his latest come-back game, in the Cup against Burnley, this weekend.

Don't forget the lyrics

The Croatian international sweetly slammed a volley from his heel for the Gunner's second goal - a goal his manager, Arsene Wenger, described as a "bitch" to reporters after the game. "All season my players have looked like they have had their feet on wrong in front of goal - now I know it would have been better if they had."

Sp3ktor