Franco Matías Di Santo is an Argentine footballer who plays as a striker for German club Werder
Bremen. He began his career at Chilean club Audax
Italiano, earning a £3.4 million move to Chelsea in 2008 and a first-team place following
good form in the reserves. After a season on loan at Blackburn Rovers he moved to Wigan
Athletic for £2 million, where he won the FA Cup in 2013 but was released after the
club's relegation. Di Santo has represented the Argentina national
football team on three occasions. He was nicknamed 'Crespito' after Chelsea's former Argentinian
striker Hernán Crespo.
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 eight 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 first-team
debut in the 1–1 home draw with Tottenham Hotspur, coming on in place of Nicolas Anelka
in the 88th minute of the game. His UEFA Champions League debut came against CFR Cluj, replacing
Florent Malouda in the 70th minute of a 0–0 draw on 2 October. On 3 January 2009, Di Santo
made his FA Cup debut in the third round, replacing Joe Cole for the last six minutes
against Southend United in a 1–1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Di Santo came on as a substitute for Florent Malouda with half an hour remaining and Chelsea
a goal down against Stoke City on 17 January 2009. He assisted a goal in the 88th minute
for Juliano Belletti to make it 1–1, and Frank Lampard then scored a 94th-minute winner.
On 30 May, Di Santo was an unused substitute as Chelsea won the 2009 FA Cup Final against
Everton. He made 8 substitute appearances during Chelsea's 2008–09 Premier League
campaign and was afterwards 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.
He made his debut for Rovers on the opening day of the season, 15 August, replacing Jason
Roberts in the 65th minute of a 2–0 home defeat to Manchester City. He made his first
start in the next match, away to Sunderland a week later, but was substituted for Nikola
Kalinić due to injury after 14 minutes; Blackburn lost 2–1. He recovered from injury after
a month, starting a 2–1 home win over Aston Villa on 26 September in which he won David
Dunn's winning late penalty after his shot was handled by Richard Dunne. On 18 October
he scored the only goal of his loan in a 3–2 home win over local rivals Burnley, also assisting
David Dunn with a 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. Wigan Athletic
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 54th-minute substitute
for Hendry Thomas in a 1–1 draw against Sunderland, in support of his compatriot Mauro
Boselli. In the following game, against Manchester City, he started for the first time as Wigan
lost 2–0 at home. On 23 April 2011, Di Santo replaced Charles N'Zogbia for the last seven
minutes of a 4–2 defeat at Sunderland and scored the last goal of the game in added
time. It was his first goal since 18 October 2009.
On the opening day of the following Premier League season, Di Santo won a penalty from
Ritchie de Laet, 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 for Conor Sammon. On 17 September, he scored again at Goodison
Park against Everton, a deflected effort off Tony Hibbert to take the lead, but eventually
Wigan lost 3–1. Di Santo scored his first goal of the 2012–13
season in a 2–0 away win at newly promoted Southampton on 25 August, opening the scoring
in the 51st minute with a finish high into the net from inside the area. He was an unused
substitute as Wigan defeated Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup Final, manager Roberto
Martínez instead playing Arouna Koné and Callum McManaman in attack. On 30 June 2013,
Di Santo was released by Wigan. Werder Bremen
On 14 August 2013, Di Santo signed a three-year contract with Bundesliga club Werder Bremen.
He made his debut in a 1–0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund nine days later, replacing Marko
Arnautović in the 67th minute. On 14 November, in the last five minutes of a home game against
Mainz, he assisted Eljero Elia and then scored his own first Bundesliga goal, but Bremen
still lost 2–3. He finished his first season at the club with 4 goals from 23 league appearances.
On 1 November 2014, away to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Di Santo scored two goals, as Bremen came
from behind to register their first win of the season after 10 games. This brace put
him joint top of the Bundesliga scorers, with 6 goals.
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, which Brazil won by a two-point advantage over Argentina.
He was also called up to the 2009 South American Youth Championship in Venezuela, but was not
allowed to take part due to Chelsea's injury crises. From 2006 to 2009 Di Santo earned
25 Under-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.
In May 2014, Di Santo was re-called to the Argentina national team, in the 30-man provisional
squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. BBC Sport called him a "surprise inclusion".
However, later that month, he was one of four players cut from a second provisional 26-man
squad. Career statistics
Club International
As of 10 April 2013 Honours
Chelsea FA Cup: 2008–09
Wigan Athletic FA Cup: 2012–13
References
External links Franco Di Santo career stats at Soccerbase