Getting To Know: Jonathan Dos Santos

Full name: Jonathan dos Santos Ramírez
Squad No: 12
Position: Midfielder
Date of birth: 26 April 1990
Place of birth: Monterrey, Mexico
Height: 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight: 74 kg (163 lbs)

Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Jonathan Dos Santos was noticed by FC Barcelona's scouts at a youth tournament in France in 2002 where he was playing alongside his older brother Giovani Dos Santos and both received a place in the youth academy. Jonathan made steady progress through various youth levels and was even the captain of the Juvenil A team. That year he also obtained a Spanish passport.

Next season, in 2009-10, Dos Santos was promoted to the Barcelona B team, where he at first wasn't considered a regular starter. But Pep Guardiola held Dos Santos in high regard and quickly started giving the youngster occasional appearances. Dos Santos made his first team debut on 28 October 2009 as a substitute in the Copa del Rey against Cultural Leonesa merely a month after he made his Barça B debut, against RCD Mallorca B.

Naturally a central midfielder Dos Santos has seen more playing time at the defensive midfielder position ever since he played that position for Guardiola and he even showed he can, if needed, perform admirably at right-back. In three seasons with the B team Dos Santos played in 81 games and scored six goals while adding one assist. During that same time he also appeared in 19 games for the first team, helping his team's cause with an assist.

Dos Santos was officially promoted to the first team after the 2011-12 season. His current Barcelona contract keeps him at Camp Nou until 2015 and includes a €30 million buy-out clause.

Dos Santos started playing for the Mexican national team very early in his career as he made his senior team debut at the age of 19 against Colombia. Since then he has made 6 international appearances and is still waiting for his first El Tricolor goal.

Profile
A versatile player that is best known for his accurate passing and good vision. He possesses a powerful and relatively accurate long range shot and is also good at taking free kicks and supplying crosses. Dos Santos lacks the size to be a commanding holding midfielder and could therefore be more suited for a central midfielder career.

Honors
FC Barcelona

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