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, Mexico
Height:
1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position:
Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team:
Villarreal
Number:
9
Youth career
Barcelona:
2002-2006
Senior career*
Barcelona B:
2006-2007
27x apps / 6x goals
Barcelona:
2007-2008
28x apps / 4x goals
Tottenham Hotspur:
2008-2012
15x apps / 0x goals
→ Ipswich Town (loan):
2009
8x apps / 4x goals
→ Galatasaray (loan):
2010
14x apps / 0x goals
→ Racing Santander (loan):
2011
16x apps / 5x goals
Mallorca:
2012-2013
29x apps / 6x goals
Villarreal:
2013-
31x apps / 11x goals
National team
Mexico U17:
2005
8x apps / 2x goals
Mexico U20:
2007
6x apps / 5x goals
Mexico U23:
2012
9x apps / 3x goals
Mexico:
2007-
77x apps / 14x goals
* (appearances national team caps and goals correct as of 18:26, 13 June 2014 (UTC)
Giovani dos Santos Ramírez, born 11 May 1989, simply referred to as Giovani, is a Mexican footballer who currently plays as an attacking midfielder for Spanish La Liga club Villarreal CF.
He can also play as a winger or forward.
Giovani began his football career at a young age, being recruited by Spanish club FC Barcelona and played for their B team until age 18.
He made his way up the ranks, eventually playing for the senior squad, making his debut in 2007.
That year, dos Santos was named by World Soccer Magazine as one of the "Top 50 Most Exciting Teen Footballers".
After playing one season at Barcelona, he transferred to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 in search for more playing time.
Though he would stay with the club until 2012, his time there was mostly spent away on loan, at Ipswich Town, Galatasaray, and Racing Santander, with varying degrees of success.
Tottenham eventually sold him to Mallorca in 2012. After Mallorca's relegation, he was sold to Villarreal in 2013.
Giovani was a member of the Mexican national under-17 team that won the 2005 U17 World Cup held in Peru.
He made his senior debut for the Mexico national team in a 1:0 victory over Panama on 9 September 2007.
He was called to play at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He was also a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 2012 London Olympics.
Club career
Barcelona
Born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Giovani joined FC Barcelona's academy of La Masia at the age of eleven and played for Barcelona's 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.
Giovani once again played a significant role during the tournament and helped the team win the national title of the Juvenil A category.
In 2006, he was invited on the pre-season tour of 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.
On 28 November 2006, Barcelona included dos Santos in their 23-man squad for the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.
During the summer of 2007, Giovani was once again invited to join Barça'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 (at 18 years and 114 days) during a 3:1 home win against Athletic Bilbao, coming on for Thierry Henry in the 62nd minute.
Giovani made his Champions League debut on 20 September 2007 during a 3:0 home win against Olympique Lyonnais.
He came on as a substitute for Xavi in the 79th minute.
On 17 May 2008, Giovani scored a hat trick against Real Murcia, with a final score of 5:3, granting a victory to Barça 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 18 June 2008, Giovani passed a medical and agreed terms to complete his move to Tottenham Hotspur from Barcelona.
Barcelona reported that the transfer fee was €6 million with an additional 5 million Euros payable depending on appearances for Tottenham.
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.
Giovani also played in Tottenham's other pre-season games such as the 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.
Giovani scored his first competitive goal for Spurs in the UEFA Cup on 26 February 2009 against Shakhtar Donetsk.
After 12 first team appearances, he was sent on loan to Ipswich Town for the remainder of the season.
Giovani returned to Tottenham at the start of the 2009-10 season and his first game of the season came against Doncaster Rovers in the League Cup, in which he provided an assist.
He was substituted off, however, due to an ankle injury early on in a League Cup game against Preston North End and has only managed to make a substitute appearance in a 1:0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
His commitment was questioned by former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp, who warned him to stay away from nightclubs and revealed that he was often late for training on Mondays.
Redknapp assured dos Santos, however, that he was still part of his plans at Tottenham.
Giovani scored and had an assist in Tottenham's Europa League group match against Shamrock Rovers on 29 September 2011 at White Hart Lane.
On 7 January 2012, he scored a goal and completed an assist for a 3:0 win against Cheltenham Town F.C. in the third round of the F.A. Cup.
Ipswich Town (loan)
In March 2009, Giovani signed on loan at Ipswich Town until the end of the season.
He made his debut on 14 March 2009, coming on as a substitute against Reading.
He scored his first league goal and the equaliser in the following game against Burnley.
He scored his second goal against Bristol City on Easter Monday, a 94th minute penalty to equalise for Ipswich.
He also claimed an assist and a goal from the penalty spot in Ipswich's 3:2 win over local rivals Norwich City a week later.
He finished his loan with four goals in eight appearances.
Galatasaray (loan)
In January 2010, Giovani signed for Turkish club Galatasaray on loan for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, with an option to purchase him at the end of that period.
The move reunited the player with Frank Rijkaard, his former coach at Barcelona.
On 31 January, he made his debut coming on as a 58th minute substitute for Emre Çolak in a league game against Denizlispor with victory 2:1.
He returned to Tottenham in the summer having failed to score for Galatasaray, and stayed there for half a season before being loaned to La Liga club Racing Santander in January.
Racing Santander (loan)
On 31 January 2011, Giovani joined La Liga side Racing de Santander on loan until the end of the season from Tottenham.
He made his debut for his new club on 5 February 2011 as a substitute against Real Zaragoza, drawing the game 1:1.
He scored his first goal as a substitute against Villarreal CF in the 68th minute on 27 February 2011.
Dos Santos scored a brace in a 3:2 win league match over Hércules CF.
Mallorca
It was reported that Giovani had told Tottenham that he wanted a move in the summer of 2012 or else he would leave on a free transfer during the next transfer window.
His agent stated there was interest from Serie A club Internazionale, as well as La Liga clubs such as Sevilla FC and Atlético Madrid.
On 31 August 2012, Giovani signed a four-year deal with Spanish outfit RCD Mallorca, being introduced as their new number 9.
On 22 October, Giovani made his debut for Mallorca, playing 60 minutes and assisting both goals in a 3:2 away defeat to Sevilla.
Giovani played another 60 minutes on 28 October in a 5:0 home defeat to Real Madrid. Giovani scored his first goal against RCD Espanyol on 18 January 2013.
Though Mallorca would finish the season in 18th place and was relegated, dos Santos was a mainstay in the squad, amassing 32 total appearances and finished as their top goal-scorer with six goals as well as providing seven assists.
Villarreal
On 9 July 2013, Giovani completed a much speculated move to recently promoted side Villarreal CF.
He finished the season with 11 goals and 8 assists, helping the club to a respectable sixth position at the conclusion of 2013-2014 La Liga season.
International career
U12 Danone Nations Cup
Giovani participated at the 2001 Danone Nations Cup that was held in the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, France, where 40 countries also participated.
Mexico would finish the tournament fifth.
He won the Golden Boot award for top goalscorer.
Mexico U17
During the 2005 U-17 World Championship, which his team won, dos Santos assisted half of the goals of the Mexican team during the tournament, a feat that won him the Adidas Silver Ball as the second best player of the tournament, finishing behind only to Brazilian and current Manchester United midfielder Anderson.
Mexico U20
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 for precautionary reasons 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 2 July 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 volley into the top left-hand corner from outside of the box.
Giovani 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 round of 16, Mexico played against Congo and 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 was eliminated by Argentina by an own goal on the second-half, which was the only goal of the game in a 1:0. Dos Santos was awarded the Adidas Bronze Ball.
Mexico U23
In June 2012 Giovani was called up to play with the Mexico under-23 squad that would participate at the 2012 London Olympics.
On 29 July, dos Santos started in the bench, but later scored his first two goals against Gabon, earning Mexico a 2:0 win.
Dos Santos scored his third goal of the tournament on 4 August against Senegal, scoring a crucial tie breaking goal in the 98th minute of extra time to give Mexico a 3:2 lead, which eventually led to a 4:2 win.
Mexico national team
Giovani earned his first selection for a Mexico senior team roster when Hugo Sánchez picked him for exhibition games against Panama and Brazil.
Giovani appeared for the first time for Mexico in a 1:0 victory over Panama on 9 September 2007.
The match was abandoned at half time because of heavy rain.
He scored his first two goals for Mexico on 24 June 2009 in a friendly match against Venezuela, a game in which he was also named Man of the Match.
He scored his third goal for Mexico on 19 July in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-final game against Haiti in the 42nd minute and also recorded two assists in the 4:0 victory.
On 26 July 2009, he helped Mexico end a ten-year drought of victory against the United States on American soil with a 5:0 victory that helped secure Mexico's fifth CONCACAF Gold Cup.
He was named player of the tournament.
On 5 September 2009, Giovani contributed to all three goals in a 3:0 win over Costa Rica in the 2010 World Cup qualification stages.
He scored the first goal from outside the penalty box with his preferred left foot and assisted in the following two goals.
When his brother Jonathan dos Santos was cut from Mexico's final 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup, his father Zizinho said that dos Santos was very hurt and claimed he was unsure whether he would play in the World Cup.
In the 2010 World Cup, Giovani started in every game for Mexico as a right winger. He completed 138 passes without providing an assist.
He was voted runner-up for the FIFA Young Player of the Tournament award, which eventually went to Thomas Müller of Germany.
Giovani was called up to play the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup after a good mid-season loan to Racing Santander.
On 9 June 2011, he scored a brace against Cuba in a 5:0 win.
In the final match against the United States, he scored in a 4:2 win, by dribbling inside the box against Tim Howard and chipping the ball into the top-left corner over Eric Lichaj.
That goal was also named the best goal of the tournament.
Giovani was called up by Miguel Herrera to play the 2014 World Cup. Giovani played in Mexico's World Cup opener against Cameroon. Giovani scored two goals which were wrongly disallowed by the referees.
Personal life
Giovani is the son of former Brazilian footballer Zizinho, who played for the Mexican football clubs América and León in the late 1980s. His mother, Liliana Ramírez, is a Mexican national.
Giovani has two brothers and two half-brothers; the elder, Éder dos Santos, used to play for América in the Primera División de Mexico as a defensive midfielder before retiring, and his younger brother, Jonathan dos Santos currently plays for FC Barcelona in La Liga.