(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-29 10:00

LONDON - Birmingham defender Martin Taylor said on Friday that he'll be a happy man when Arsenal striker Eduardo returns to action.

Speaking publicly for the first time since last weekend's sickening tackle that broke Eduardo's left leg, Taylor also revealed the details of his visit to the Croatia international at a Birmingham hospital.

Arsenal said on Monday they expect Eduardo da Silva, seen here in January 2008, to make a full recovery from his horrendous broken leg this year, as it was revealed the player who caused the injury has received death threats. [Agencies]

"I will be really happy on the day when I see he is back in the Arsenal and Croatia line-up and when he is scoring goals again," Taylor told The Independent on Friday.

"The injury was terrible enough. When he gets back to fitness and he puts the ball in the net for Arsenal for the first time, we will all feel much better. People will be able to see that accidents like these are the nature of football and you can recover from it."

Eduardo's injury was so severe he faces around nine months out of the game, ruling him out of this summer's Euro 2008 finals.

Taylor added: "I went to see him on Saturday but, unfortunately, he was still recovering from an operation, so first thing on Sunday morning I went to the hospital and he was really good to see me."

Taylor admitted he was worried how the striker would react to his visit.

"I thought maybe he wouldn't want to see me, which would have been fair enough because of the trauma," Taylor explained. "Although there was a language barrier, I just said that I didn't mean him any harm at all and that I hoped he made a quick recovery.

"He took it on board and nodded. I was just really glad we could communicate. He is obviously a really strong man. Since then, I have read in the papers that he would be happy for me to visit him. That's something I'd like to do."