Friday, March 13, 2009

Fall from grace

Remember when Giovani Dos Santos was the Next Big Thing? When he was supposed to follow in the footsteps of giants at Barcelona?

That is ancient history by now.

Dos Santos has been loaned out by EPL side Tottenham Hotspur and will now suit up for Championship side Ipswich Town.

It wasn't too long ago that Dos Santos was one of Mexico's best-ever prospects, a player who was ready to star for both club and country for a good decade, that was set to give the Mexican national team a different kind of talent, along the lines of Ronaldinho, and CONCACAF better watch out.

Now, he's on Ipswich Town. I'm not sure if the average Mexican soccer fan knows much about Tottenham but I can almost guarantee you they know virtually nothing about Ipswich Town. Heck, I know virtually nothing about Ipswich Town.

I don't know when the last time Ipswich Town was in the Premiership, or how they're doing in the Championship, or how Gio fits in and what his chances are of playing. But I do know that Ipswich is a far cry from Barcelona. It's banishment, really. And if he's going to get banished from Barca and the EPL, why not play in Mexico? Seems to me, playing for Atlas or Morelia would be better than playing for Ipswich Town.

Still, Gio's star is fading, even if he were playing in Mexico. He's not the wunderkind anymore, not the Next Big Thing.

At this point, he's not a Sure Thing at all.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

HA he's only 19, but thats not an excuse. All of the great football legends were starting for the biggest clubs in the world at that age, like Zidane, Ronaldihno, and even Hugo...

Anonymous said...

haha!

Anonymous said...

Wait I thought this article was about Freddy Adu...

Anonymous said...

The funny part is that these guys that are laughing about Gio have to laugh because of what Jozy is going thru. Same thing, different league.

Personally I don't think that is good for Mexico or the US. I remember when Mexico didnt have a lot of players in Europe and we were doing a lot better than we are doing now. I would rather they stay in Mexico and be able to participate in friendlies like the one vs Bolivia instead of riding the pine overseas and not be able to participate in the friendlies.

What's the point of having a lot of players overseas and have them riding the pine and not participating as often with their national teams.


Michoacano

Anonymous said...

"I remember when Mexico didnt have a lot of players in Europe and we were doing a lot better than we are doing now."

Yep. I have a feeling that a lot of the Mex-euro players start on the national team just because they are in Europe, even though they don't deserve too.

Anonymous said...

Dos Santos needs playing time

Anonymous said...

Gio didn't start, but did play for the last 19 minutes of the match vs Reading. The good thing is that it seems like he will actually be playing!


Michoacano

Anonymous said...

"Yep. I have a feeling that a lot of the Mex-euro players start on the national team just because they are in Europe, even though they don't deserve too."

This is beside the point.
Anon @ 6:14:

You left out the part about:

"Personally I don't think that is good for Mexico *or the US."*

And:

"What's the point of having a lot of players overseas and have them riding the pine and not participating as often with their national teams."

A.Ruiz said...

the championship is a better league than the Primera in Mexico. Well if he wants to ever make it back to a champions league squad. At least they run for the ball and he will probably get hacked left and right, he will will have to carry a leadership role and play his way back to the spotlight.
It's up the him, either he grows up and becomes a man. Or he remains a petulant child, sitting on the bench.

Anonymous said...

The people who dubbed Gio the next Ronaldhino were the same who then turned on him when he wasn't playing like Messi.

After his first season with Barcelona, it's revealed that the kid played with an injured ankle for more than half the season and on his last game, he scores a hat-trick.

Gio asks for a pay raise and Guardiola declines his request, his agent manouvers a move to Spurs where Juande Ramos includes him in his plans and after a few games he gets injured again, by the time he returns Ramos is gone and Redknapp is fighting to keep Spurs from going down.

It seems odd that Luis forgot to mention that Spurs also loaned Taraabt and Chris Gunter out to Championship sides, basically their three young prospects.

This was a move engineered to get Taraabt, Gunter, and Gio playing time instead of having them sit on the bench for the rest of the season.

Gio debuted yesterday for Ipswich and even though he played only 20 mins, was voted MOM along with Stead, who scored the game-winning goal.

Ipswich coach was quoted after the match saying "Giovani is clearly a special player whose talent level is above most players in this division."

That doesn't compare to Jozy, who hasn't even made the bench for Xerez since joining the team. Carlos Vela, at 17, was one of the best players in the Segunda and the best player on his team, in only half a season he notched 8 goals and over 20 assists.

The comparison is moot.

Hopefully this move will help Gio regain his confidence and play up to his potential.

Anonymous said...

LB just got OWNED, LOL..