Leonardo Santiago

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Leonardo
Personal information
Full name	Leonardo Vitor Santiago
Date of birth	March 9, 1983
Place of birth	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	173 cm.
Nickname	Leo
Playing position	Striker/ Left Winger
Club information
Current club	Ajax Amsterdam
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000-2005 2005-2007 2007-	Feyenoord NAC Breda Ajax Amsterdam	55 (4) 24 (9) 7 (1)
National team2
	Brazil	0 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 4, 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of March 4, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Leonardo Vitor Santiago (born March 9, 1983 in Rio de Janeiro), is a football (soccer) player, who currently plays for Ajax Amsterdam. He started his professional career by playing for Feyenoord Rotterdam in the 2000/2001 season and was said to be a hot prospect for the future. Due to several long term injuries his career was set on hold. Leonardo can play as a left winger or as a striker. He has 2 caps for the Brazil U23 football team.

[edit] Biography

Leonardo started at the Nova Safra football school in Rio de Janeiro and was raised in the Jacarezinho neighbourhood, which is also the area where Romário spent his early years. At the age of 12 he was scouted by Piet de Visser and moved to Rotterdam to play in Feyenoord's youth squads at Varkenoord. [1] He made his debut for Feyenoord at the age of 17, which brought him and Feyenoord into trouble as non European Union players were not able to play for a professional team under the age of 18. Leonardo had to wait until he turned 18 to play in Feyenoord's first team again. He scored his first goal in the match versus SC Heerenveen, which ended in 2-0. His second goal he scored in the away win versus arch rivals Ajax Amsterdam and his popularity among Feyenoord fans grew.

In his first two seasons at Feyenoord he played 44 matches and scored four goals, but mainly produced assists for his team mates to score. He was part of the Feyenoord squad that won the 2001-02 UEFA Cup. From that moment on he suffered several long term injuries and in the period from August 2002 to December 2005 he only played 11 matches due to these injuries and some arguments with his managers at the club. Every time Leonardo recovered from his injury he fell right back into another one.

He felt his final breakthrough in Rotterdam would never happen and he decided to leave the club and join NAC Breda in January 2006 on a 1.5 year deal. An argument with manager Cees Lok aside, he helped NAC Breda to stay in the Eredivisie by scoring 8 goals in 14 matches in the regular season, which made him top goal scorer at the club. NAC still had to play relegation play-offs and during the first match of these play-offs Leonardo suffered another injury and was not able to play any more matches until the end of the season.

Just two days before the start of the Eredivisie 2006/2007 season Leonardo had another conflict with a manager, this time with newly appointed Ernie Brandts. Brandts wanted Leonardo to play as a left winger, while Leonardo rather played as a striker. Leonardo was suspended after he suddenly left a training, but was later allowed back into the team again.

In December 2006 Leonardo agreed with Ajax Amsterdam on a new 2.5 year contract. Ajax paid a transfer fee if € 750,000. Leonardo got half of the fee, while NAC Breda received the other half.

On January 21 2007 he played his first Ajax Eredivisie game against FC Utrecht ^[1]

On March 4, 2007 in the game against SC Heerenveen he suffered a heavy injury tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

[edit] Statistics

Season	Club	Competition	Apps	Goals
2000/01	Feyenoord Rotterdam	Eredivisie	23	2
2001/02	Feyenoord Rotterdam	Eredivisie	21	2
2002/03	Feyenoord Rotterdam	Eredivisie	3	0
2003/04	Feyenoord Rotterdam	Eredivisie	3	0
2004/05	Feyenoord Rotterdam	Eredivisie	4	0
2005/06	Feyenoord Rotterdam	Eredivisie	1	0
2005/06	NAC Breda	Eredivisie	14	8
2006/07	NAC Breda	Eredivisie	10	1
2006/07	Ajax Amsterdam	Eredivisie	-	0
Total			79	13

[edit] References

Ajax Amsterdam - Current Squad
1 Stekelenburg | 2 Heitinga | 3 Stam | 4 Vermaelen | 5 Emanuelson | 6 Maduro | 8 Babel | 9 Huntelaar | 10 Sneijder | 11 Perez | 12 Vermeer | 13 Davids | 14 Roger | 15 Lindenbergh | 16 de Mul | 18 Gabri | 20 Ogăraru | 21 Mitea | 22 Grygera | 23 Leonardo | 24 Schilder | 25 Sarpong | 26 Manucharyan | 28 Vertonghen | 29 Poepon | 30 Gentenaar | 32 van Duin | Manager: ten Cate