Giovani "Gio" dos Santos Ramírez(Spanish pronunciation: ; born 11 May 1989) is a Mexican professional footballer who currently plays for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy and the Mexico national team. A versatile forward, dos Santos can play as an attacking midfielder, winger and secondary striker.
Dos Santos began his football career at a very 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, he was named by World Soccer Magazine as one of the "Top 50 Most Exciting Teen Footballers". After playing one season, Dos Santos was 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 de Santander, with varying degrees of success. Spurs eventually sold him to Mallorca in 2012, and he was sold a year later by Mallorca to Villarreal in 2013.
Dos Santos was a member of the Mexico under-17 team that won the 2005 U17 World Championship held in Peru. He made his debut for the senior national team in a 1–0 victory over Panama on 9 September 2007, and represented El Tri at the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups. With Mexico, Giovani has won the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2009, 2011 and 2015, scoring in the 2009 and 2011 finals and winning the MVP award in 2009. He was also a member of Mexico's team that won the gold-medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
CONCACAF Gold Cup 2015 Mexico | Olympics Gold 2012 Tottenham | CONCACAF Gold Cup 2011 Mexico | CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 Mexico |
2006-2007 |
2007-2008 |
2008-2012 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012-2013 |
2013-2015 |
2015-2018 |
2019-2021 |