Failed Wonderkid #21- Franco Di Santo

Biodata

Full Name: Franco Matias Di Santo

Nationality: Argentinian

Date of Birth: 7 April 1989

Position: Striker

Current Club: San Lorenzo

Current Market Price: 1.40mil Euro (Updated on Apr 2020)

Highest Market Price: 8.50mil Euro (Jul 2015)

Former Clubs:

2006- 2008 Audax Italiano

2008- 2010 Chelsea

2009- 2010 Blackburn Rovers (loan)

2010- 2013 Wigan Athletic

2013- 2015 Werder Bremen

2015- 2019 Schalke 04

2019 Rayo Vallecano

2019- 2020 Atletico Mineiro

International Career:

2012- 2013 Argentina

Achievement:

Chelsea

2008- 2009 FA Cup

Wigan Athletic

2012- 2013 FA Cup

Career

The route to be a great football player is different for every single player. There are players who started their career from the bottom and there are players who begin their career in a big club. However, none of the routes guarantees the road towards success. The player will still need to work hard to at least fulfil their early promises. The main character of this article had joined Chelsea early in his career and end up faded away from the limelight. He is Franco Di Santo.

Di Santo actually began his football career in Chile as he joined Audax Italiano youth team at the age of 16. He got his breakout moment in the 2006-2007 season when he scored 26 goals in 76 matches in all competition. Di Santo carried his goalscoring form in the next season as he scored 12 goals in 17 matches for Audax Italiano and even been dubbed as the ‘new Maradona’ for his impressive performance in Chile. His prolific goalscoring ability will not be unnoticed as Europe came calling on January 2008. Di Santo finally signed for Chelsea on a four-and-a-half-year contract.

With the competitiveness in the Chelsea frontline, Di Santo only played in the reserve team in his first half-season in the Stamford Bridge. He carried his goalscoring instinct to his new club as scored 12 goals in just 8 matches in Chelsea reserve team. In the next season, Di Santo finally got his debut match for Chelsea senior team at August 2008 as he replaced Nicolas Anelka in the last minute of the match against Tottenham Hotspur. His first-ever European game came in October 2008, where he replaced Florent Malouda for the last 15 minutes against Cluj. However, he couldn’t replicate his goalscoring form in the reserve side to the senior team as he only managed to register 1 assist in all competition in that season.

In order to get more game-time, Di Santo was loaned out to Blackburn Rovers until February 2010, with the option to extend the loan by six months to June 2010. He made his debut in Ewood Park on the opening day of the season against Manchester City. Di Santo scored his first goal in England in a 3-2 home win over Burnley, which he also assisted David Dunn at the same game. He got more playing time in Blackburn Rovers and the club decided to exercise their option to extend the loan spell until the end of the season. However, he got lesser playing time due to poor form and used mostly as a late substitute since his loan move is extended. Di Santo ended his Blackburn Rovers career in a low at the end of the season.

On August 2010, Di Santo left Chelsea to seek for more first-team football. He transferred to Wigan Athletic on a three-year contract. He made his Wigan debut on September 2010 when he replaced Hendry Thomas for the remaining 36 minutes of the match. Di Santo’s first season in the DW Stadium is not a fruitful one as he had to wait until April 2011 to score his first goal for the Latics. The next season was his most prolific season as he scored 7 goals and registered 2 assists in the league to help Wigan to escape relegation at the end of the season. Di Santo carried his form as well in the 2012-2013 season where he scored 5 goals and registered 5 assists in all competition. He also managed to earn his first national team cap in a match against Saudi Arabia in November 2012, when he replaced Eduardo Salvio for the second half of the match. Di Santo also helped Wigan to an unbelievable triumph in FA Cup, beating Manchester City in the final. Despite the cup win, Wigan still could not escape relegation at the end of the season.

After the relegation, Di Santo signed for Bundesliga side Werder Bremen on a three-year contract. He made his Bundesliga debut in a match against Borussia Dortmund, replacing Marko Arnautovic for the remaining 23 minutes of the match. However, he was sent off in his third Bundesliga match against Eintracht Frankfurt when he tackled Bastian Oczipka. Di Santo finally scored his first Bundesliga goal in November 2013 against Mainz 05, where he also assisted another goal in the match too. He ended his debut season by scoring 4 goals and 4 assists in all competition. Di Santo entered a supernova form when he was in his second season with Werder Bremen. He managed to score 14 goals and registered 2 assists in all competition in the 2014-2015 season, being the sixth-highest goalscorer in Bundesliga on that season.

After witnessing the fine form from Di Santo, Schalke 04 had triggered his release clause in his Werder Bremen contract, which angered the Bremen fans. Even Di Santo himself has to publicly apologise for this controversial move. However, Di Santo has failed to replicate his form in Werder Bremen to his new club. In his four seasons stay in Gelsenkirchen, Di Santo only managed to score 12 goals and 6 assists in all competition. With his hat-trick against the Greek side, Asteras Tripolis in Europa League as the highest moment in his Schalke 04 career. On January 2019, Di Santo has moved on to La Liga side, Rayo Vallecano on a free transfer to help the team to escape relegation. Despite the change of environment, Di Santo’s form was still in the all-time low. He only played for six matches in that season and failed to score or register any goal or assist in the season. This has caused Rayo Vallecano to get relegated at the end of the season.

After yet another relegation in La Liga, Di Santo moved back to South America to join the Brazilian club, Atletico Mineiro. He is still yet to rediscover his prolific goalscoring form that makes his name noticed under the limelight at first as he only managed to score 4 goals and registered 1 assist in all competition. One season later, Di Santo finally returned to his homeland for the first time in his footballing career when he signed for San Lorenzo. We hope that his return to his home nation will help him to rediscover his goalscoring form.

Verdict

Disappointment Rate: 7/10. From a prolific youth goalscoring to just being a squad player, Di Santo certainly has a lot of unfulfilled potential in his bag. He might not be the top-class striker that most of us expected him to be in his early days, he might still able to be a decent striker and hopefully, one day returned to the national team setup.