How is ex-Blackburn Rovers man Franco Di Santo getting on these days? | OneFootball

There are unlikely to be many strikers with one goal in one season at a specific club, that are as fondly remembered as Franco Di Santo is at Blackburn Rovers.

The Argentine spent the 2009/10 on loan at Ewood Park from Chelsea, with his one goal in 24 appearances in all competitions coming as Rovers came from a goal down to beat local rivals Burnley 3-2 on home soil in the first ever meeting between the two sides in the Premier League.

Nevertheless, that return was not enough to see Blackburn look to extend that loan deal or make Di Santo’s move from Chelsea permanent at the end of that season, although the striker would still return to the North West in the summer of 2010, signing for Wigan Athletic for a reported £2million.

Di Santo would then go on to spend the next three years at The DW Stadium, scoring 14 goals in 97 games in total for the Latics.

However, Di Santo would leave the club following the expiration of his contract and Wigan’s relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2012/13 season, having been unable to get on the pitch even once during their FA Cup-winning run during that campaign.

It was during that period in 2012 and 2013 that Di Santo would earn what are, to date, his only senior caps for Argentina, featuring in two friendlies and one 2014 World Cup qualifier, with the striker subsequently failing to make the final cut the finals of that tournament in Brazil.

Following his departure from Wigan, Di Santo earned himself an eye-catching move to the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen, where he would score 18 goals in 51 outings over the next two years, before moving across Germany to Schalke in the 2015 summer transfer window.

Di Santo would enjoy a strong start to life with Schalke, netting a hat-trick in a Europa League win over Greek side Asteras in October 2015, although that was something the striker would struggle to back-up.

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In the end, Di Santo left Schalke in January 2019 having scored 12 goals in 88 appearances in all competitions, joining Rayo Vallecano in Spain.

That spell in La Liga would however, be a short one. Di Santo played just six games and failed to score as Vallecano finished bottom of the Spanish top-flight, with Di Santo then leaving the club to make his return to South America, joining Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro in August 2019.

The striker spent the next 11 months with the club, during which time he scored seven times in 33 outings before Di Santo was finally handed the chance to play at senior level in his native Argentina in July 2020, when he made the move to San Lorenzo.

Following that move, the postponements of football in Argentina meant that Di Santo did not make his debut for San Lorenzo until last November.

Since then, the 31-year-old has gone on to make a total of seven appearances for the club, and scored his first goal for San Lorenzo in their 2-1 win Arsenal de Sarandi last weekend.

It seems therefore, that things have certainly been eventful for Di Santo since his departure from Blackburn little more than a decade ago, and with San Lorenzo a club that do have the potential to compete at the upper echelons in Argentina and, potentially, South America, Di Santo will no doubt be hoping that he is not done yet.