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Revision as of 13:43, 13 October 2009 by 212.135.1.185 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Personal information | |||
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| Full name | Franco Matías Di Santo | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
| Current team | Blackburn Rovers | ||
| Number | 26 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2005–2006 | Audax Italiano | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2008 | Audax Italiano | ||
| 2008– | Chelsea | ||
| 2009– | → Blackburn Rovers (loan) | ||
| International career | |||
| 2006– | Argentina U20 | ||
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 07:39, 26 May 2009 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16:30, 15 April 2009 (UTC) | |||
Franco Matías Di Santo (born 7 April 1989) is an Argentine professional football player who plays as a striker for Blackburn Rovers on loan from Chelsea.
Club career
Audax Italiano
Di Santo began his club career with his local side Godoy Cruz in 2005, he stayed there for just one season, before moving to Chilean team Audax Italiano. In the 2006-07 season, he scored 16 goals in 69 matches in 2007-08 he scored 19 in 17 matches for the club. On 25 January 2008, he signed for Chelsea.
Chelsea
2007-08
Di Santo scored on his debut for Chelsea reserves on 11 February 2008, getting a late equalizer in a 2–2 draw with Fulham reserves and scored his second goal in as many appearances, against Reading reserves on 3 March. On 14 April, he scored his first hat-trick for Chelsea's reserve team against Tottenham Reserves; the most spectacular of the three goals being a volley from a Branislav Ivanovic cross that found the top right corner. In the last reserve match of the season, Di Santo scored his seventh goal in eight reserve games against Aston Villa. He finished the 2007–08 reserve season with 12 reserve goals in 8 games.
2008-09
Di Santo had been training with the first team in 2008-09 pre-season and has flown out with the squad on their tour of China. Ahead of their first game on tour, he was handed the number 36 jersey and came off the bench in that game against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, to score the third goal during a 4-0 victory. He scored his second goal of the pre-season campaign in the 65th minute against the Chengdu Blades in a 7-0 victory after he had replaced Nicolas Anelka five minutes before.
On 31 August, Di Santo made his full first-team debut in the 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, coming on in place of Nicolas Anelka in the 88th minute of the game. He made his second first-team appearance in a League Cup match against Portsmouth on 24 September coming on for Didier Drogba in the 79th minute. His UEFA Champions League debut came against CFR Cluj, he replaced Florent Malouda in the 70th minute. The game ended 0-0. On 3 January 2009, Di Santo made his FA Cup debut, coming on as a substitute against Southend United in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Di Santo came on as a substitute for Florent Malouda, against Stoke City F.C. assisting on a goal in the 88th minute for Juliano Belletti making the scorelines 1-1. Teammate Frank Lampard then went on to score a 94th minute winner with Chelsea claming a dramatic 2-1 win.
Di Santo was named as a substitute 8 times during Chelsea's 08/09 Premier League campaign and has been linked with a loan move to Blackburn.
Di Santo scored his first goal of the 2009 preseason against Club America, he also provided an assist to teammate Florent Malouda a minute later. Chelsea won the game 2-0 to win the World Football Challenge.
Blackburn Rovers (loan)
2009-10
On 3 August 2009, Di Santo joined Blackburn Rovers on loan until January 2010, with the option of extending the loan by six-months to June 2010. On 5 August 2009, Di Santo had his debut for Rovers at Ewood Park vs Hibernian. After recovering from injury, he started in the 2-1 Blackburn win over Aston Villa. Di Santo impressed as he provided an assist for David Dunn and almost got himself on the scoresheet on a few occasions. His impressive performance earned praise from manager Sam Allardyce.He also looks like Toby Cohen who is a gay boy
Career statistics
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Chelsea | 2008–09 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 0 |
| Blackburn | 2009–10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
International career
Di Santo made his debut for the Argentina under-20 team in 2006 and scored his first goal in a game against the French under-20s. He was part of the under-20 squad that participated in the 2007 South American Youth Championship in Paraguay and he got a hat trick in the competition against Venezuela when the Argentina team went on to win 6–0. Brazil went on to win the tournament having a two point advantage over Argentina. Franco was also called up to the 2009 South American Youth Championship in Venezuela, but wasn't allowed to take part due to Chelsea's injury crises. From 2006 to 2009 Di Santo got 25 under 20 caps and 5 under 20 goals.
Honours
References
- "Chelsea FC profile". Chelsea FC. 2008-07-16. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
- "Franco Di Santo Biography". francodisanto.co.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
- http://www.skysports.com/football/match_report/0,19764,11065_3059889,00.html "Champions League Debut"
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7815607.stm
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/15/blackburn-franco-di-santo-chelsea
- Di Santo joins Rovers on loan
- http://www.rovers.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10303~47353,00.html
- Includes other competitive competitions, including the FA Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup
- http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=116366&cc=5901
External links
- Franco Di Santo at Soccerbase
- Video Compilation
- Di Santo at Football Line-ups
- Skysports.com
- Where he started his career
| Blackburn Rovers F.C. – current squad | |
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