This 23-year-old Swiss defender
moved from Servette to Arsenal in 2003. There are high expectations on these young shoulders.
He captained the under-17 European Champions and has been a regular in the under-21 international side.
Senderos has represented the country at every level from Under-15s upwards.
He broke into the Servette side at the age of 16 and captained the Swiss under-17s to
the European Championships in 2001-02.
At Arsenal,in the summer of 2006, Senderos was handed the number 6 jersey, formerly worn
by then captain Tony Adams. However, Senderos was unable to start the 2006–07 season
after the shoulder injury he incurred in the World Cup that summer.
He captained the Arsenal squad for the first time on August 2, 2007, in their 2-1
friendly win against Lazio in the Amsterdam Tournament.
Senderos scored his first Premiership 2007/08 goal against Sunderland A.F.C. on 7
October 2007 at the Emirates Stadium. He also scored his second against Blackburn
Rovers on 11 February 2008. He was named as the Man Of The Match after the game.
Senderos became a major force in the Arsenal's Champions League run, which included
a record-breaking run of ten clean sheets. He was injured however, for the final in
Paris, which Arsenal lost 2–1 to FC Barcelona; coincidentally, Campbell started the
match in his stead and managed to score the first goal.
He made his full international début on March 26, 2005 in Switzerland's 0–0 draw
against France in Paris. After playing a big part in Switzerland's successful
qualifying campaign, he was named in their FIFA World Cup 2006 squad. For this
defender, the 2006 World Cup was quite a learning curve. He still has a scar
over his eyebrow, which he got scoring an important goal against South Korea
that clinched the Swiss team’s passage through to the knockout stages. Senderos
returned from the championship with a shoulder injury that kept him on the
sidelines for a few months. But once back to good health, he racked up
25 appearances and deputized well for William Gallas when the Frenchman was injured.
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