Giovani Dos Santos Brother, Girlfriend, Height, Net Worth, Salary

Quick Facts

Giovani Dos Santos is one of many talented players who never got to live up to the huge expectations required of them. On his arrival at LA Masia at a very young age, so much was expected of the natural left-footed wonderful talent that the Catalan media tagged him as the “Next Ronaldinho“, the fans saw him as the successor to the legendary Brazilian playmaker.

So many questions were raised as to why he never got to achieve that feat expected of him. Some say he could not handle the pressure of being compared to one of the greatest players the football world has ever seen, despite sharing a locker room with the Brazilian superstar. Furthermore, his almost never-ending injury dented his chance of achieving the feat of taking over from the Brazilian as many expected.

Brief Bio of Giovani Dos Santos

Giovani Alex Dos Santos Ramirez, most commonly known as Giovani Dos Santos, was born to ex-professional footballer Geraldo Dos Santos and Liliana Ramirez in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico on May 11, 1989. Giovani Dos Santos is a professional football player and is currently signed to the United States based football club L.A. Galaxy. He grew up in a football loving family. His mum is a huge fan of the sports while his dad is an ex-footballer himself and was popularly known as Zizinho.

Zizinho and his wife Liliana Ramirez have 3 sons together. His influence as a football lover and ex-player rubbed off on all 3 of his boys as each became a professional footballer as well.

Giovani Dos Santos Club Career

Giovani Dos Santos caught the football fever from his dad and he is said to be even more talented than his father. He became the first from his family to play professional football in the most appreciated European region when Barcelona came for his signature at his young age of 11. He started playing football at a very young age when his local team, Monterrey FC. Barcelona’s youth Academy scouts came into town in search of young talents and were never in doubt the moment they spotted Giovani, who they tagged the new Ronaldinho, he joined the Barcelona youth structure La Masia in 2002.

Giovani made his way up into Barcelona B-team from the juvenile category in 2006. He racked up 27 match appearances for the reserve team which came along with 6 goals to his name amidst an eye-catching performance. While still at the reserve team, he temporarily joined the senior side on a couple of training and pre-season tours, which earned him an early debut for the Barcelona main team. On July 29, 2006, he played his debut match as a professional footballer for Barcelona in a pre-season friendly against AGF Aarhus and did make his mark on his debut by scoring on an amazing dream come true debut for Barcelona.

His spectacular performance with the Barcelona B team didn’t go unnoticed, as a year later, he was promoted to the main Barcelona team where he could finally get the chance to impress his employers and dazzle the fans. In the 2007/2008 Spanish La Liga season, Giovani was officially named as a first-team player for Barcelona and was included in the squad to compete for Spain’s Primera division trophy. On August 29, 2007, he received Spanish citizenship which then made him have a dual nationality of being both a Mexican and a Spaniard.

His first professional league season wasn’t a stellar one as he couldn’t command a starting shirt in a star-studded Barcelona side that included big names like Thierry Henry, , Iniesta, Samuel Eto’o, Ronaldinho and more. The then 17-year-old made 28 appearances for Barcelona first team with the majority of his games starting from the bench. He managed 10 starts, 18 coming off the bench and was withdrawn 7 times. He managed to register 3 goals to his name from his playing time at Barcelona, and those goals came on Matchday 38, the last round of league matches. His impressive hat-trick helped Barcelona overcome stubborn Real Murcia 5-3 on May 17, 2008, but the win was not enough to earn Barcelona the league title, only to lose out to eternal arch-rival Real Madrid on an inferior head to head record.

Dos Santos needed more playing time and agreed on a move to English premier league side Tottenham Hotspur for a fee around a region of €11 million – €6 million paid up front and an additional €5 million to be paid based on his performance and appearance for the London-based team. However, Giovani spent most of his time at Tottenham either on the bench or playing for the reserve team and midway into the 2008/2009 season, he was loaned to Ipswich town where he played out the rest of the season. He made 8 appearances for the championship side, started in 6 games and came off the bench as a substitute on 2 occasions, scoring 4 goals in the process. But earlier in the season, before securing the loan move to Ipswich, he played 6 times for Tottenham and started only twice and got no goal in the league.

He got his first competitive goal for Tottenham in the UEFA Cup against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk on February 26, 2009, but His time with the football club was overshadowed by injuries, nightclub accusations and he was allowed to go on loan spells to Galatasaray and Racing Santander.

On August 31, 2012, a permanent move back to Spain was secured as he joined Mallorca on a four-year deal. He played a season at Mallorca and featured for 2395 minutes for the Spanish outfits in the league, scoring 6 league goals from 29 appearances.

His long-speculated move to Villarreal was finally secured, signing for a reported fee of €6 million on July 9, 2013. He played two seasons for the Yellow Submarines, making a total of 57 appearances in the league within the two seasons he spent with them and scoring 12 league goals in the process.

And on July 15, 2015, he sealed a move to his current club in the Major League Soccer, L.A. Galaxy for a reported fee of €6.35 million. His contract with the club runs until December 31, 2019.

National Team Career And Awards

Giovani was the star man for the Mexican U-17 team that conquered the U-17 FIFA World Cup in 2005, finishing as the tournament’s second-best player, earning him the Adidas silver ball.

Earlier in 2001, his Mexican U-12 team finished fifth in the Danone Nations Cup competed by 40 teams, Giovani Dos Santos came out as top goalscorer and won the Golden Boot award.

He made his senior national team debut for Mexico on September 9, 2007, in an exhibition match against a fellow North American team, Panama. He scored his first goal for the national team against Venezuela on June 24, 2009, he ended the match with a brace and was also recognized with the man of the match award.

He went on to win the CONCACAF Gold Cup with Mexico in 2009, 2011 and 2015. He was also part of the Mexican team that achieved success at the 2012 London Olympic games by winning the Gold medal in the men’s football category, defeating the USA in the final.

Salary and Net Worth

With close to 2 decades of playing football at a professional level, his highest market value is said to have been €12 million and his current market value is €2.75 million. The professional footballer is worth €10 million. He currently plays for MLS side L.A. Galaxy, earning $3.75 million a year.

 Height

Giovani is naturally a left-footed player. He best operates as an attacking midfielder or a secondary striker on the field and can also play from either wing. Dos Santos is 5’10” (1.78m) tall. Hs body weight is 71 kg and he is managed by Shine entertainment.

Brother

Giovani Dos Santos has two brothers who are also professional footballers like himself. His elder brother, Eder Dos Santos is a retired footballer, born January 2, 1984. During his playing days, he played as a defensive midfielder for Mexican Primers division- a side Socio Auila from 2003-2008.

His younger brother Jonathan Dos Santos is also a familiar name as Giovani. He was also recruited by Barcelona youth side. He was born April 26, 1990, and plays as a central midfielder. He is also managed by Shine entertainment media. He was promoted from the Barcelona youth team into the main side in 2012. He moved to Villarreal in 2014 for a reported fee of €1.5 million and is currently playing alongside his brother at L.A. Galaxy. He also features for the Mexican national team alongside his brother.

Giovani Dos Santos Girlfriend

Ever since after the sex tape blackmail which involved Giovani Dos Santos, his ex-girlfriend Belinda and Eiza Gonzalez, Giovani has kept his dating life off the limelight.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.