Giovani Dos Santos
| Giovani Dos Santos | ||
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Giovani Dos Santos Ramírez | |
| Date of birth | 11 May 1989 | |
| Place of birth | Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico | |
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 81⁄2 in)[1] | |
| Playing position | Attacking Midfielder, Second Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Tottenham Hotspur | |
| Number | 17 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 2001 2002–2006 |
Monterrey Barcelona |
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| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2007–2008 2008– |
Barcelona Tottenham Hotspur |
28 (3) 6 (0) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2005 2007– 2007– |
Mexico U-17 Mexico U-20 Mexico |
8 (0) 6 (3) 9 (0) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Giovani Dos Santos Ramírez[1] (born 11 May 1989 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico) is a Mexican footballer who plays for Tottenham Hotspur and the Mexican national team. Dos Santos was a member of the Mexican National U-17 team that won the 2005 U-17 World Cup held in Peru.
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Biography
Dos Santos is the son of a Brazilian football player Gerardo dos Santos, better known as "Zizinho", who played for the Mexican football clubs América and León in the late 1980s; Gio's mother, Liliana Ramírez is Mexican. Dos Santos has two brothers and two half-brothers, the older, Eder, currently plays for Club America in the Primera División A as a defensive midfielder, and the younger Jonathan Dos Santos, plays for FC Barcelona in La Liga.
Dos Santos' father is seen as the driving force behind his son's career, as he founded a school in Monterrey, named São Paulo in México, at which he coached his own, and many other, children. In 2001, São Paulo participated in the Dallas Cup, a prestigious youth tournament in the USA, winning the U-12 category with dos Santos as a member of the team. Zizinho decided that dos Santos was ready to begin a professional career and was able to get him a trial with Club Monterrey.
U-17 World Championship and later career
During the FIFA U-17 World Championship 2005, dos Santos managed to assist half of the goals of the Mexican team during the tournament, a fact that, combined with his abilities, awarded him the Adidas Silver Ball as the second best player of the tournament, finishing behind only to Brazilian and Manchester United mildfielder Anderson.
After the U-17 title, dos Santos returned to Barcelona and the Juvenil A category where he helped his team to make a comeback in the league and win the regional title. This title allowed them to participate in the Youth Copa del Rey, where they faced other regional champions, among them their historic arch-rivals, Real Madrid. Dos Santos once again played a significant role during the tournament and helped the team win the national title of the Juvenil A category.
In 2006, dos Santos was invited on the pre-season tour of FC Barcelona's senior squad; during a friendly match on 29 July 2006 he scored in his senior team debut game against Danish club AGF Aarhus.[2] Hugo Sánchez, former manager of the Mexican national team, called on him for the first time for exhibition games against Panama and in early September. He made his debut against Panama on 9 September 2007.[3]
U-20 World Championship
In the U-20 World Cup Qualifiers he scored twice; once against St. Kitts and Nevis in the 86th minute and the second against Jamaica in the 56th minute. He was forced to sit out the last game against Costa Rica as he had received a yellow card in the previous match. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, but Mexico still qualified, finishing top of the regional group.
During the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup Mexico was placed in Group C, where they were drawn against Gambia, Portugal, and New Zealand. On July 2, 2007, dos Santos and the rest of the Mexico team played against Gambia and won 3-0, with Giovani opening the scoring in the second half with a superb volley into the top left-hand corner from outside of the box. Dos Santos then played against Portugal, where Mexico won 2-1, scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot. As Mexico had already qualified from the group, he was rested for the game against New Zealand. In the last-sixteen Mexico played against Congo, dos Santos returned to the starting line-up and yet again opened the scoring with a goal from the penalty spot in a match that Mexico won 3-0. In the quarter finals, Mexico were eliminated by Argentina, with a close fought game ending 1-0. Dos Santos was awarded the Adidas Bronze Ball, behind Argentines Sergio Aguero and Maximiliano Moralez.
2007–08 season
During the summer of 2007, dos Santos was once again invited to join Barcelona's senior squad on their pre-season tour. On 29 August 2007, dos Santos received dual nationality and was included in the official first team squad. He made his competitive and league debut on 2 September 2007 during a 3–1 home win against Athletic Bilbao, coming on for Thierry Henry in the 62nd minute.[4]
Dos Santos made his Champions League debut on 19 September 2007 during a 3–0 home win against Lyon. He came on as a substitute for Xavi in the 79th minute.[5]
On 17 May 2008, dos Santos scored a hat trick against Real Murcia, with a final score of 3–5, granting a victory to Barcelona on the team's last game of the 2007–08 season. It was also the last game dos Santos played before joining Tottenham Hotspur.
Tottenham Hotspur
On 10 June 2008, dos Santos passed a medical and agreed terms to complete his move to Tottenham Hotspur from Barcelona. The transfer fee is initially £4.7 million, with the potential to rise to £8.6 million depending on appearances. The deal also includes a sell-on clause of 20% within dos Santos' first two years at Spurs, and 10% thereafter. [6]
The young Mexican was on target twice as Tottenham beat local Spanish side Tavernes in an 8-0 thumping on their 2008-09 pre-season tour. These were his first goals for Tottenham. Gio has also impressed in Tottenham's other pre-season games having major influences in 5-1 wins over Leyton Orient and Norwich City. He also scored the second goal in the 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund to help spurs to make it two wins out of two and take home the Feyenoord Jubileum Tournament trophy.
Club career statistics
- (correct as of 24 October 2008)
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | ||
| Barcelona | 2007–08 | 28 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 4 | 4 |
| Total | 28 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 4 | 4 | |
| Tottenham | 2008–09 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
| Career total | 34 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 47 | 4 | 4 | |
Honours
International
- FIFA U-17 World Championship: 2005
Individual
- FIFA U-17 Silver Ball: 2005
- FIFA U-20 Bronze Ball: 2007
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Barcelona official squad profile
- ↑ "Goals and debuts in Denmark (0-3)". FCBarcelona.com (29 July 2007).
- ↑ "Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez calls Giovani Dos Santos into El Tri for first time". Yahoo.com (1 September 2007).
- ↑ "Barcelona 3–1 Athletic Bilbao". soccernet.com (17 January 2007).
- ↑ "Barcelona 3-0 Lyon: Messi orchestrates win". soccernet.com (19 September 2007).
- ↑ "Tottenham complete Giovani deal", BBC Sport (10 June 2008).
External links
- Official site
- Tottenham Hotspur profile
- Giovani dos Santos stats
- Giovani Dos Santos FIFA competition record
- Footballdatabase.com Provides Profile and Statistics for Giovanni Dos Santos
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