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Franco Di Santo
Di Santo warming up for Wigan Athletic in 2011
Personal information
Full name Franco Matías Di Santo
Date of birth (1989-04-07) 7 April 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth Mendoza, Argentina
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
2005–2006 Audax Italiano
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2008 Audax Italiano 55 (13)
2008–2010 Chelsea 8 (0)
2009–2010 → Blackburn Rovers (loan) 22 (1)
2010–2013 Wigan Athletic 92 (13)
International career
2006–2009 Argentina U20 25 (5)
2012– Argentina 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15 May 2013
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 April 2013

Franco Matías Di Santo (born 7 April 1989) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a striker who is currently a free agent and the Argentina national football team.

Club career

Audax Italiano

Born in Mendoza, Mendoza Province, Di Santo began his club career in the Chilean team Audax Italiano. In the 2006–07 season he scored 26 goals in 76 matches, including one goal in six matches in the Copa Libertadores. Then, in 2007 he scored 12 in 17 matches for the club, including one goal in four matches in the Copa Sudamericana. On 25 January 2008, Di Santo signed for English Premier League side Chelsea on a four-and-a-half year contract for a fee of £3.4 million.

Chelsea

2007–08 season

Di Santo scored on his debut for Chelsea reserves on 11 February 2008, getting a late goal 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 Ivanović 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 season

Di Santo trained with the first team in 2008–09 pre-season and flew 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 claiming a dramatic 2–1 win.

Di Santo was named as a substitute 8 times during Chelsea's 08/09 Premier League campaign and was linked with a loan move to Blackburn Rovers.

Di Santo scored his first goal of the 2009 pre-season against Club América; he also provided an assist to teammate Florent Malouda a minute later. Chelsea won the game 2–0 to win the World Football Challenge.

Loan to Blackburn Rovers

On 3 August 2009, Di Santo joined Blackburn Rovers on loan until February 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. Di Santo started and scored his first goal against Burnley at Ewood Park on 18 October 2009 while also notching up another assist for David Dunn with a clever flick. As a result of his good performances, Rovers extended his loan deal by a further six months until June 2010. However, after his extended loan, Di Santo saw less time on the pitch due to his poor goals to games ratio and was often used more as a late substitute. He was not selected for Rovers final squad of the 2009–10 season against Aston Villa, a game which Rovers went on to win 1–0.

Wigan Athletic

Di Santo playing for Wigan Athletic in 2010

On 31 August 2010, Di Santo signed a three-year contract with Wigan Athletic for a transfer fee of £2 million. He made his debut on 11 September, appearing as a substitute in a 1–1 draw against Sunderland, and made his first start for the club in the following game against Manchester City. On 23 April 2011, he scored his first goal for Wigan in the 93rd minute against Sunderland, his first goal since 18 October 2009.

On the opening day of the following Premier League season, Di Santo won a penalty which teammate Ben Watson converted into a goal in the 1–1 draw against Norwich City. On 27 August 2011, the third game of the season, he scored two deflected goals in a 2–0 win against Queens Park Rangers and left to a standing ovation from the home crowd when substituted. A week later, he scored again at Goodison Park against Everton, It was a deflected effort to take the lead, but eventually Wigan lost 3–1. His fourth goal of the season was an injury-time winner against Sunderland on 26 November to give Wigan a vital 2–1 win after coming off the bench in the 84th minute. On 16 April 2012 Di Santo scored his fifth goal of the season in a win for Wigan against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. On 28 April he scored his sixth goal of the season with a first half goal in Wigan's 4–0 win against Champions League hopefuls Newcastle United. He scored on the final week of the season in a 3–2 home victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Di Santo scored his first goal of the 2012–13 season in a 2–0 away win at newly promoted Southampton. Di Santo scored the opening goal with a finish high into the net from inside the area.

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. Brazil went on to win the tournament having a two point advantage over Argentina.

He 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 U-20 caps and five goals.

On 31 October 2012, Di Santo was handed a call-up to the Argentina national team squad by manager Alejandro Sabella for their upcoming friendly against Saudi Arabia on 14 November 2012.

Personal life

Di Santo has dual Argentine-Italian nationality.

Career statistics

Club

As of 15 May 2013
Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists
Chelsea 2008–09 8 0 1 5 0 0 3 0 0 16 0 1
Blackburn Rovers (loan) 2009–10 22 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 25 1 1
Wigan Athletic 2010–11 25 1 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 29 1 3
2011–12 32 7 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 33 7 2
2012–13 35 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 5 5
Total 92 13 10 5 0 0 0 0 0 97 13 10
Career Total 122 14 12 13 0 0 3 0 0 138 14 12

International

As of 10 April 2013
National team Year Apps Goals
Argentina 2012 1 0
2013 2 0
Total 3 0

Honours

Chelsea
Wigan Athletic

References

  1. ^ Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Mainstream Publishing. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0.
  2. "Franco Di Santo Biography". Franco Di Santo official website. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
  3. "Chelsea snap up Argentine striker". BBC Sport. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  4. 50 Years Over 100 Years – A Glorious Di Santo Hat-Trick. TheFootballNetwork.net. Retrieved on 19 November 2012.
  5. "Champions League Debut". Sky Sports. Retrieved on 19 November 2012.
  6. Dawkes, Phil (17 January 2009). "Chelsea 2–1 Stoke". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  7. Hunter, Andy (15 June 2009). "Sam Allardyce seeks to sign the Chelsea striker Franco Di Santo on loan". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  8. Di Santo joins Rovers on loan. Blackburn Rovers F.C. (3 August 2009)
  9. Blackburn vs West Ham Utd. Blackburn Rovers F.C. (29 August 2009)
  10. "Blackburn 3 – 2 Burnley". BBC Sport. 18 October 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
  11. "Wigan complete £2m signing of Chelsea striker Franco Di Santo". Daily Mail. London. 31 August 2010.
  12. "Last-gasp Di Santo snatches points for Wigan". ESPN Soccernet. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  13. "Di Santo get surprise Argentina call-up". Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). 31 October 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  14. ''Franco Di Santo –. Transfermarkt.de. Retrieved on 19 November 2012.
  15. Includes FA Cup, League Cup and FA Community Shield
  16. "di Santo, Franco". National Football Teams. Retrieved 13 January 2013.

External links

Template:Argentina squad 2007 South American Youth Championship

Template:Persondata

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