Should this Tottenham loan-star be given a ‘real’ chance in the Premier League?

When Giovani dos Santos arrived at Tottenham in the summer of 2008 as one of Juande Ramos’ signings, the fans were both thrilled but also shocked at how one of the worlds most promising young players had ended up as White Hart Lane, for a seemingly tiny fee of £4.7 million.

A product of Barcelona’s now world famous ‘La Masia’ academy, Giovani made the step up from Barcelona B to the first team before the 2007/8 season. It proved a good choice by then-coach Frank Rijkaard as Giovani made 38 appearances for the Catalan giants, scoring a sublime hat-trick against Real Murcia in what was the last game of that season and also dos Santos’ last game for Barcelona.

However, despite his immense potential and undeniable talent when Ramos was sacked and Harry Redknapp came in, it seemed dos Santos was not a part of his plans. In the January that followed, after he barely made an appearance under ‘Arry, Giovani was sent to Ipswich Town on loan. Yes, that is correct, Ipswich Town of the Npower Championship. No disrespect to ‘The tractor boys,’ but surely an established international player, once hailed by Thierry Henry as ‘the next best player in the world,’ should be granted a little more patience and perseverance, instead of sending a foreign lad who was still only 19 at the time to play in the lower divisions of English football, where the game is a tad rougher than in ‘La Liga.’

Nonetheless he returned to Tottenham at the end of a torrid first season in English football, determined to prove to the new manager that he was worthy of a place in the side and prove it he did. In the ‘CONCACAF gold cup’ of 2009 Giovani was awarded the ‘Most Valuable Player’ of the tournament, he also scored in the final, a 5-0 demolition of the United States, who are as England found out in the recent world cup, no pushovers.

However, it seems this was not enough to be given a run in the side at Spurs and he was again left on the bench until being loaned out the following January, this time, to Turkish giants Galatasaray, a step up from Ipswich I suppose.

At the close of the 2009/10 season another opportunity for recognition presented itself to the young Mexican, a chance to shine on the biggest of all stages, the FIFA world cup. Mexico performed admirably until they were knocked out by a strong Argentina side and dos Santos played a pivitol role in his country’s progression through the tournament, playing the centre forward role just off another young talent, Javier Hernandez, now known worldwide as ‘Chicharito,’ after being snapped up by Manchester United. Although despite Mexico’s exit at a relatively early stage, dos Santos was shortlisted among only 2 other players for the prestigious ‘Best young player,’ award, eventually won by Germany’s Thomas Muller due to his 4 goals and 3 assists.

Upon his return to England, Redknapp publically told dos Santos that he ‘has a future at Spurs,’ amid talk that the young Mexican preferred the bright lights of London’s nightclubs as opposed to the flood lights of the Spurs training pitch. It seemed that the Spurs management like what they saw of him in South Africa and Redknapp may finally be ready to offer him some first team action in the coming 2010/11 season.

Once again, he was repeatedly overlooked, despite all of Spurs’ strikers struggling to find form and more importantly, goals. It was a familiar story again in January, with Racing Santander being the club, to which his services were leant for the remainder of the season. Again he performed well, managing 5 goals in 16 appearances, with Santander given the option to acquire his services permanently, however they have yet to take Spurs up on their offer, his price tag of around £7 million perhaps acting as a stumbling point for relatively small club.

His future now seems uncertain; he is still young at only 22 years of age and already has bags of experience with over 40 international caps and will no doubt gain more this summer in the upcoming Gold Cup and Copa America. Although with no movement as of yet from Santander, I would personally love to see ‘Gio’ finally given a chance at Spurs, especially if their search for a world class, established striker proves largely unsuccessful, he could be a perfect partner to a ‘target man’ such as Crouch, Pavlyuchenko or even Leandro Damiao, should Spurs acquire his signature.

Yes, there have been question marks about his commitment to training and his suitability to English football, but in my view, the many outstanding performances he has given on the international stage and the perseverance he has shown with each of his different loan spells should warrant chance to prove himself at Spurs.

It is said in football there are two things no amount of training can provide a player with: experience playing at the highest level and raw talent. Both of these attributes are possessed in abundance by the still young, Giovani dos Santos and I for one, hope that he is given the chance to prove his talent at Spurs next season.

Do you agree? Should ‘Gio’ be given a chance in the Premier League? Or is he just not cut out for English football? Leave your thoughts below…

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