Giovani dos Santos

"Giovani" redirects here. For other people with a similar name, see Geovani.

Giovani dos Santos

Personal information
Full name	Giovani Dos Santos Ramírez
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	Tottenham Hotspur
Number	17
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Template:Spanish name 2 Giovani Dos Santos Ramírez born 11 May 1989 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico is a Mexican footballer who plays for Tottenham Hotspur as a midfielder. Dos Santos was a member of the Mexican National U-17 team that won the 2005 U-17 World Cup held in Peru.

Club Career

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 América in the Primera División A as a defensive midfielder, and the younger Jonathan Dos Santos, plays for FC Barcelona in La Liga.

U-17 World Championship

During the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, 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 midfielder 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.

U-20 World Championship

In the U-20 World Cup Qualifiers he scored twice; once against St. Kitts and Nevis in the 86^th minute and the second against Jamaica in the 56^th 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 was eliminated by Argentina by an own goal on the second half which was the only "goal" of the game, 1-0. Dos Santos was awarded the Adidas Bronze Ball, behind Argentines Sergio Agüero and Maximiliano Moralez.

FC Barcelona

Giovani in Barcelona.

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 (at 18 years and 114 days) during a 3–1 home win against Athletic Bilbao, coming on for Thierry Henry in the 62nd minute.

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.

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.

The young Mexican, under high expectations, 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 played in Tottenham's other pre-season games being a factor 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. Since then he has failed to impress at Tottenham having scored his first and only competitive goal for Spurs in the Uefa Cup on the 26 February against Shakhtar Donetsk.

March 2009 Dos Santos signed on loan at Ipswich 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 FC on Easter Monday, a 94th minute penalty to equalise for Ipswich. He also claimed an assist and a goal from the penalty spot in Town's 3-2 win over local rivals Norwich City a week later. During his time at Ipswich, Giovani became a fans' favourite and built up a good relationship with the club. Upon heading back to Tottenham he stated that it was a "great experience" and that he "loved the fans" at Ipswich, as well as tipping the club to make a swift return to the Premier League..

International career

Giovanni Dos Santos appeared for the first time on the Mexico national football team "El Tri", ( coached by Hugo Sanchez), in a game against the Guatemala national football team. He scored his first two goals with the Mexican national football team on June 24, 2009 in a friendly match against Venezuela, a game in which he was also named man of the match. He scored his third goal with the Mexican national football team on July 19, 2009 in the 2009 Gold Cup quarter-final game against the Haiti National Football team, in the 42nd minute, and also recorded two assists in the 4-0 victory.

All-time club performance

(correct as of 3rd May 2009)

Club	Season	League			Cup			Europe			Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
FC 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
Ipswich Town	2008–09	8	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	4	1
	Total	8	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	4	1
Tottenham	2008–09	6	0	0	2	0	0	4	1	0	12	1	0
	2009–10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	6	0	0	2	0	0	4	1	0	12	1	0
Career total		42	7	5	7	0	0	9	2	0	58	9	5

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	24 June 2009	Atlanta, United States	Venezuela	4–0	Win	Friendly
2	24 June 2009	Atlanta, United States	Venezuela	4–0	Win	Friendly
3	19 July 2009	Arlington, United States	Haiti	4–0	Win	2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup

| 4 || 26 July 2009 || East Rutherford, United States || United States || 5–0 || Win || 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup |}

Honours

International

Mexico

• FIFA U-17 World Championship: 2005
• CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009

Individual

• FIFA U-17 Silver Ball: 2005
• FIFA U-20 Bronze Ball: 2007
• CONCACAF Gold Cup MVP: 2009

External links

• Official site
• Tottenham Hotspur profile
• Giovani dos Santos stats
• Giovani dos Santos – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Footballdatabase.com Provides Profile and Statistics for Giovanni Dos Santos
• Giovani Dos Santos at Soccerbase
• Ipswich Town profile