FRANCO DI SANTO DROPS IN THE PECKING ORDER

Argentine striker, Franco Di Santo is gradually dropping down the pecking order in German club side, FC Schalke 04. The 26-year old joined The Miners from fellow German club side Werder Bremen in mid 2015 for a transfer fee of £4.5 million. Coach Andre Breitenreiter signed the striker with the hope of having more attacking options but he is performing below expectations.

Di Santo launched his career at Audax Italiano before moving on to play at Stamford Bridge, England. He also played for Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic before moving to Germany where he played for Bundesliga giants, Werder Bremen.

Franco Di Santo was impressive at Werder Bremen scoring 17 goals in 49 games for the club. For FC Schalke 04, he has not performed as much. He has only three goals in the Bundesliga despite playing 27 games. He has done better in the Europa League having put five goals past the goal keeper in seven games. He scored a hat-trick on October 1st last year against Ast. Tripolis but he continues to struggle in the Bundesliga.

German news outfit Bild hinted that The Royal Blues might offload the striker during the summer. Klass-Jan Huntelaar is the preferred forward for the team, and has scored eight goals this season. Other attacking options are now preferred to Franco, based on his run in the league. Continue reading “FRANCO DI SANTO DROPS IN THE PECKING ORDER”

Werder Bremen will retain Franco Di Santo for this Winter

Franco Di Santo is not going to be sold out this winter by his club Werder Bremen.

Talking to a website yesterday, Mr. Thomas Eichin, the Bremen GM, ruled out any chances of the exit of Di Santo.

Di Santo has had a heck of a time in Bundesliga this season. Playing 10 matches for Bremen, he has already shaken the net 6 times.

Because of his brilliant recent form, the Argentina international is getting recognized internationally now and the big clubs from Europe are said to be planning to grab him.

But, according to Eichin, Di Santo is in the long term plans of his club and thus, there is no question of him being let go.

In Eichin’s words, “Franco is going to here in 2015-16 too, no doubt. He is a guy who has fully matured as a player now. The next few years would be his best years and thus, we don’t want him to leave.”

“Obviously, when we get finished with the season, we will ask him what he thinks about his future and I am pretty sure, he will commit to the club for long.”

The current contract of Di Santo at Bremen will expire at the end of the next season. In all probability, he will be offered an extension when the ongoing season ends.

Before signing for Bremen last summer, Di Santo had been playing in England. He played for clubs like Chelsea and Wigan Athletic there, but, he never really found his feet.

The Argentinean’s strike rate at Chelsea as well as at Wigan was pretty ordinary, but, as soon as he went to Germany, he started blossoming.

In total, Di Santo has struck on 11 occasions for Werder Bremen in 34 matches. Out of those 11 goals, 10 have come in the top division which is Bundesliga.