Julio dos Santos
FullnameJulio Daniel dos Santos Rodríguez[1]
Birth date7 May 1983 (age 43)
Birth placeAsunción, Paraguay
Height1.89 m
PositionAttacking midfielder, central midfielder
Years 12001–2005
Clubs 1Cerro Porteño
Caps 191
Goals 128
Years 22006–2008
Clubs 2Bayern Munich II
Caps 23
Goals 22
Years 32006–2008
Clubs 3Bayern Munich
Caps 35
Goals 30
Years 42007
Clubs 4→ VfL Wolfsburg (loan)
Caps 40
Goals 40
Years 52007
Clubs 5→ Almería (loan)
Caps 50
Goals 50
Years 62008
Clubs 6→ Grêmio (loan)
Caps 65
Goals 60
Years 72008–2009
Clubs 7Atlético Paranaense
Caps 721
Goals 72
Years 82009–2014
Clubs 8Cerro Porteño
Caps 8171
Goals 841
Years 92015–2017
Clubs 9Vasco da Gama
Caps 941
Goals 90
Years 102017–2018
Clubs 10Sportivo Luqueño
Caps 1031
Goals 108
Years 112019–2021
Clubs 11Cerro Porteño
Caps 117
Goals 110
Years 122022
Clubs 12Presidente Hayes
Caps 120
Goals 120
Totalcaps375
Totalgoals81
Nationalyears 12003
Nationalteam 1Paraguay U20
Nationalcaps 14
Nationalgoals 11
Nationalyears 22004–2014
Nationalteam 2Paraguay
Nationalcaps 232
Nationalgoals 23

Julio Daniel dos Santos Rodríguez (born 7 May 1983) is a Paraguayan former footballer.

He played usually in the hole-position, and sometimes as a second striker.

Club career

Born in Asunción, Dos Santos started his professional career with Cerro Porteño, before eventually moving to Bayern Munich of Germany, in January 2006. He was elected Paraguayan Footballer of the Year in 2005 by national newspaper Diario ABC Color. Upon his arrival in Munich, he was touted as a long-term successor to Michael Ballack, but faced stiff competition from Iran's Ali Karimi. Eventually, both players struggled to break into the starting lineup.

In the first half of 2006–07 Bundesliga season, Bayern's leadership publicly stated its impatience with Dos Santos' progress. Club coach Felix Magath said: "It is clear that Julio's development does not please us, It does not make sense to keep a player at the club who does not create". This led to widespread rumours of his departure from the club; the speculation ended in December 2006, when Bayern announced they had reached a deal to send the player on loan to fellow Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg for the remainder of the season.[2] Having failed to break into Wolfsburg's first team (mainly due to a major injury), he returned to Bayern in June.

At the conclusion of the 2006–07 season, Dos Santos had made four league appearances, as well as one appearance in the 2006–07 DFB-Pokal and two appearances in the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League.

However, after the arrivals of Franck Ribéry, Hamit Altıntop, José Sosa and Zé Roberto, it soon became clear that he would again struggle to find a place in the first team. Ottmar Hitzfeld, who had replaced Magath as Bayern manager by that time, stated that the club sought to sell dos Santos.[3] Therefore, he would split 2007–08 between Almería (with no first-team appearances) and Grêmio.

In June 2008, dos Santos signed with Atlético Paranaense, also from Brazil.

In June 2009, Julio went back to his original club Cerro Porteño to play in the 2009 Clausura and the Copa Sudamericana.

On 29 December 2014, Julio dos Santos joined Brazilian club Vasco da Gama.[4]

Before signing with Sportivo Luqueño, dos Santos rejected the opportunity to sign with Olimpia Asunción – being Cerro Porteño's rival – thanking the club's president for interest in him, but stating that his Cerro-ism would not permit him to join Olimpia.[5]

International career

A Paraguayan international since 2004, dos Santos appeared for the nation at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in two matches, assisting for the first goal against Trinidad and Tobago (2–0). He played the 2007 Copa America but has not been called up for the World Cup Qualifiers.

See also

References

  1. ^ "2006 FIFA World Cup Germany: List of Players". FIFA. 21 March 2014. p. 20. Archived 10 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ "Dos Santos poised for Wolfsburg switch". fcbayern.de. 11 December 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  3. ^ "Lukas Podolski läuft wieder (Lukas Podolski runs again)" (in German). Kicker. 1 August 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  4. ^ Zarko, Raphael (29 December 2014). "Eurico vê Marcinho como "referência", anuncia paraguaio e confirma pacotão" (in Spanish). Globo Esporte. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  5. ^ "Dos Santos rechaza la franja por su cerrismo" (in Spanish). RDN. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.