Jonathan dos Santos

Barcelona

2008–09 season

In the 2008–09 season, Dos Santos was in Juvenil A where he was captain of the team. During that same season, he obtained a Spanish passport and thereby acquired Citizenship of the European Union, which enabled him to play in the first team.

2009–10 season

In the summer of 2009, Dos Santos was selected by Barcelona B manager Luis Enrique to form part of the second team. Subsequently, Pep Guardiola called him up to the first team during pre-season in England and the tour in the United States. On 15 August 2009, Dos Santos was called up for his first official game with the first team in the Supercopa de España against Athletic Bilbao, although he was eventually ruled out and saw the game as a spectator. He made his debut with Barcelona B on 5 September 2009 against Mallorca B. The match finished in a 1–1 draw. Dos Santos made his debut for Barcelona on 28 October 2009, coming on as a substitute for Seydou Keita in the 80th minute in an away Copa del Rey match against Cultural Leonesa, which Barcelona won 2–0. He made his Champions League debut for Barcelona on 24 November 2009 against Internazionale in a 2–0 win at the Camp Nou when he replaced Andrés Iniesta in the 92nd minute. Due to the lengthy 2009–10 season, many Barcelona first-team players were given breaks towards the end of the year. This meant the first team was going to be a few men short, and hence four Barça B players were called up by Guardiola on 29…

Dos Santos made his senior national team debut in a friendly against Colombia on 30 September 2009. He was substituted for Patricio Araujo in the 72nd minute; Colombia won the game 2–1. This meant that he represented his national team before debuting for his club team. On 3 March 2010, Dos Santos played 61 minutes against New Zealand. During the match, off a corner from Cuauhtémoc Blanco, the ball rolled towards him and he shot from outside the box but hit the crossbar. Dos Santos was left out of Mexico's 23-man final squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In May 2011, Dos Santos was left out of the 2011 Gold Cup final squad. On 24 May 2011, he was called up to play the Copa América. He was subsequently dismissed from the team due to indiscipline. On 29 February 2012, Dos Santos returned to the Mexico national team for a friendly against Colombia in Miami, Florida, in which they lost 2–0. In November 2014, after a two-year absence with the national team, Dos Santos was called up by coach Miguel Herrera for the friendly matches against the Netherlands and Belarus on 12 and 18 November, respectively. In 2015, Dos Santos was called up to Mexico's friendly against Ecuador and Paraguay. Jonathan did not start nor play in Ecuador's friendly, but he started in Paraguay's friendly which led to a 1–0 win against them at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. He was called back up for two friendlies against Costa Rica and Honduras where both matches were drawn, and he was also called…

Dos Santos is described as a versatile midfielder, with LA Galaxy he often played as a holding midfielder. He is known for his work rate, technical acuity, defensive tenacity, vision and ability to create space and opportunities for teammates.

Born in Mexico City, Jonathan was competing along with his brother Giovani in a youth tournament in France, where he was spotted by Barcelona scouts, who decided to bring him and his brother to La Masia for a trial.