Julio dos Santos

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Personal information
Julio dos Santos
Full name	Julio Daniel dos Santos Rodríguez
Date of birth	May 7, 1983 (1983-05-07) (age 25)
Place of birth	Asunción, Paraguay
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Midfielder and Striker
Club information
Current club	Grêmio
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001–2005 2006– 2006– 2007 2007 2008-	Cerro Porteño Bayern Munich II Bayern Munich → VfL Wolfsburg (loan) → UD Almería (loan) → Grêmio (loan)	91 (28) 03 0(2) 05 0(0) 00 0(0) 00 0(0)
National team²
2004–	Paraguay	15 0(5)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of February 3, 2008. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 15 May 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Julio Daniel dos Santos Rodríguez (born May 7, 1983 in Asunción) is a Paraguayan football midfielder who plays for Grêmio.^[1]

He started his career at Paraguayan club Cerro Porteño before eventually moving to Bayern Munich of Germany. He was elected Paraguayan Footballer of the Year in 2005 by Paraguayan newspaper Diario ABC Color.

Dos Santos plays in midfield, the hole-position behind striker and sometimes even as striker. Upon his arrival in Munich, he was touted as a long-term successor to Michael Ballack although he faced stiff competition from Iran's Ali Karimi. However, both players have struggled to break into the starting lineup.

In the first half of 2006-07 season, Bayern's leadership publicly stated its impatience with Dos Santos' progress. Bayern's coach Felix Magath said "It is clear that Julio's development does not please us, It does not make sense to keep a player at the club who does not create." This led to widespread rumours of his departure from the club. The speculation ended in December 2006 when Bayern announced they had reached a deal to send Dos Santos out on loan to VfL Wolfsburg for the remainder of the season.^[2] Having failed to break into Wolfsburg's first team (mainly due to a major injury), he returned to Bayern in June. However, after the arrivals of Franck Ribéry, Hamit Altıntop, Jose Ernesto Sosa and Zé Roberto, it soon became clear that dos Santos would struggle to find a place in the first team. Ottmar Hitzfeld, who had replaced Magath as Bayern manager by that time, stated that the club sought to sell dos Santos.^[3] He joined UD Almería on loan until end of 2007^[4] and is currently at Grêmio.

[edit] References

^ Julio dos Santos acerta com o Grêmio (Portuguese). O Globo Online (2008-02-01). Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
^ Dos Santos poised for Wolfsburg switch. fcbayern.de (2006-12-11). Retrieved on 2008-02-03.
^ Lukas Podolski läuft wieder (German). kicker.de (2007-08-01). Retrieved on 2008-02-03.
^ Dos Santos nach Almeria (German). kicker.de (2007-08-08). Retrieved on 2008-02-03.

[edit] External links

v • d • e Paraguay squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup

1 Villar • 2 Núñez • 3 Toledo • 4 Gamarra • 5 Cáceres • 6 Bonet • 7 Cabañas • 8 Barreto • 9 Santa Cruz • 10 Acuña • 11 Gavilán • 12 Gómez • 13 Paredes • 14 da Silva • 15 Manzur • 16 Riveros • 17 Montiel • 18 Valdez • 19 dos Santos • 20 López • 21 Caniza • 22 Bobadilla • 23 Cuevas • Coach: Ruiz