Giovanni dos Santos

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Personal information
Giovanni dos Santos

Full name	Giovanni dos Santos Ramírez ^[1]
Date of birth	May 11, 1989 (age 17)18
Place of birth	Monterrey, Mexico
Height	173 cm (5'8")
Nickname	Gio, Giova
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder, Striker
Club information
Current club	Barcelona
Number	31
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2006-present	FC Barcelona	0 (0)
National team²
2005 2007	Mexico U-17 Mexico U-20	8 (2) 2 (2)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11/27/06. ² National team caps and goals correct as of March 25, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Giovanni dos Santos Ramírez (born May 11, 1989 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico) is a Mexican football midfielder who plays for FC Barcelona and is part of the Mexican National U-20 Football and the team that won the FIFA U-17 World Championship 2005 held in Peru. Dos Santos, also known as "Gio" or "Giova", was a key piece in winning the title.

[edit] Biography

A great playmaker, he is often compared to Ronaldinho both for his physical appearance and his skills with the ball. He is the son of the former Brazilian football player Gerardo dos Santos, better known as "Zizinho", who played in the Mexican soccer teams América and León in the late 1980s. Gio's mother is the Mexican Liliana Ramírez de dos Santos; he has two brothers, an older, Eder and a younger, Jonathan who also plays for FC Barcelona, but in the Juvenil B category. The brothers Giovanni and Jonathan dos Santos are two of several highly-rated Mexican youngsters already playing in Europe.

His father can be recognized as the driving force behind Giovanni’s career, he founded a school in Monterrey named São Paulo en México in which he coached his children among many other kids. In 2001 São Paulo participated in the Dallas Cup, a prestigious youth tournament in the USA, winning the U-12 category with Giovanni as the star of the team. After that accomplishment Zizinho decided that Giovanni was ready to begin a more professional formation and he managed to get a trial for Giovanni with the Mexican first division team, Club Monterrey, in which he was immediately identified as a prodigy and quickly jumped the youth ranks to join their filial of professional third division.

Months later a youth team of Club Monterrey was due to participate in a tournament in France and the officers of the club decided to send Giovanni as a reinforcement. In that tournament he was scouted when a youth team of FC Barcelona played Giovanni's team. After the match a representative of FC Barcelona contacted Giovanni’s parents to offer a place for Giovanni on FC Barcelona’s youth system, his parents accepted and moved to Spain a year later.

Established in Barcelona with his parents and brothers Giovanni quickly adapted to his new way of life, both of his brothers made trials to join FC Barcelona youth system, but only Jonathan was accepted. Giovanni was placed in a category a couple years above his, but he didn’t struggle, in the Cadete A category he was Pichichi of the league with 28 goals. He then moved on briefly to Juvenil B and then to Juvenil A, where he won the Milk Cup Premier Category with FC Barcelona in 2005.

During the FIFA U-17 World Championship 2005 wearing the number eight on his back he dazzled observers, experts or not. With his great performance during the tournament, Gio managed to assist on half of the goals of the Mexican team during the tournament, a fact that combined with his ability awarded him the Adidas Silver Ball as the second best player of the tournament, only behind the Brazilian Anderson, although many experts considered that the honor for the best player of the tournament should have been awarded to Dos Santos.

After the U-17 title Giovanni returned to Barcelona, and went back to the Juvenil A category where he helped his team to make 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 rival Real Madrid. Giovanni played once again a significant role during the tournament and helped the team win the national title of the category.

In the summer of 2006 Giovanni dos Santos was one of the few youth players invited to the pre-season of the FC Barcelona senior squad, during a friendly match on July 29, 2006^[2] he scored in what was his debut game for FC Barcelona senior team against Aarhus. Still, his debut in an official match is pending, but is expected to happen some time soon.

The inclusion of Giovanni dos Santos in the Mexican National Team, senior and U-20 is one of many expected near-future possibilities, but the foremost possibility would have to be Dos Santos's ascension into FC Barcelona's first squad. It has been rumored that now that Rafael Márquez has acquired the Spanish citizenship and become a dual citizen a spot for a player from outside the European Union would open, and Dos Santos would be eligible to play for FC Barcelona.

Hugo Sánchez, newly appointed manager of the Mexican National Team, has made public that he maintains communication with the player, and intends to call on him in the near future. Meanwhile Dos Santos remains in the list of players for the Mexican U-20 National Team.

[edit] U-20 World Cup Qualification Round

He has scored twice already for the U-20 World Cup Qualification round's. Once against St. Kitts and Nevis in the 86' Minute and the Second Against Jamaica in the 56'Minute. He had to sit out the last game versus Costa Rica due to the fact that he had received a yellow card in the previous match. The game ended in a 1-1 tie.

[edit] External links

FC Barcelona - Current Squad
1 Valdés \| 2 Belletti \| 3 Motta \| 4 Márquez \| 5 Puyol \| 6 Xavi \| 7 Guðjohnsen \| 8 Giuly \| 9 Eto'o \| 10 Ronaldinho \| 11 Zambrotta \| 12 van Bronckhorst \| 15 Edmílson \| 16 Sylvinho \| 18 Ezquerro \| 19 Messi \| 20 Deco \| 21 Thuram \| 22 Saviola \| 23 Oleguer \| 24 Iniesta \| 25 Jorquera \| 26 Jesús \| 31 dos Santos \| Coach: Rijkaard