Michael Nicolás Santos Rosadilla (born 13 March 1993) is a Uruguayan

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Argentine club Vélez Sarsfield.

Club career

River Plate

Born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Santos was a

River Plate Montevideo A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

youth graduate. He made his first team – and Primera División – debut on 13 February 2011, coming on as a second-half substitute for Federico Puppo in a 1–2 home loss against

Rampla Juniors Rampla Juniors Fútbol Club, commonly known as Rampla Juniors, is a Uruguayan football club based in Montevideo. The team was actively playing the 2021 season by January 2021. In their home stadium, Rampla won the Uruguayan championship in 1927. I ...

. On 28 April 2012, Santos scored his first professional goal, netting the winner in a 2–1 home win against Fénix. Exactly one month later, he was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for two bookable offenses in a 2–4 loss at Racing Montevideo. Santos scored a career-best 21 goals during the 2014–15 season, with braces against Fénix,

Sud América Institución Atlética Sud América, usually known as Sud América or just IASA, is a football club from Montevideo. They currently play in the Uruguayan Segunda Division. History Sud América was formed from the team formerly known as the "Mo ...

(two times), and

Juventud Las Piedras Club Atlético Juventud is a sports club based in Las Piedras, Canelones, Uruguay. CA Juventud won promotion to the Primera División Uruguaya to start in August 2007.

, aside from a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against

El Tanque Sisley El Tanque Sisley is a football club from Montevideo in Uruguay. They currently play in the Uruguayan 3rd Division. The club were founded in 1955 with the name ''Club Atlético El Tanque'', on December 15, 1981 the club were amalgamated with '' ...

. He also scored River's first ever goal in the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

, through a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in a 2–0 home win against

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

Málaga

On 5 July 2016, Santos signed a four-year deal with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

. He made his debut for the club on 23 October, replacing

Jony Jony is a masculine given name or nickname (often of Jonathan) and a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Jony (real name — Jahid Afrail oglu Huseynli (; born 29 February 1996, Baku, Azerbaijan), Azerbaijani-born Russian singer and ...

in a 4–0 home routing of

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

. Santos scored his first goal in the Spanish top tier on 4 November 2016, netting the winner in a 3–2 home win against

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

Sporting Gijón (loan)

On 14 August 2017, Santos was loaned to Sporting, now in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, for one year. He scored 17 goals during the campaign, being the club's top goalscorer and the fifth overall in the category.

Leganés (loan)

On 1 August 2018, Santos was loaned to

in the top flight, for one year.

FC Copenhagen

On 21 August 2019, Santos was signed by Danish club

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub ...

for a reported transfer fee of 2.25 million euro.

Return to Leganés (loan)

Santos returned to ''Lega'' on 14 September 2020, also in a temporary deal, with the club now in the second division.

Back to Copenhagen

In January 2021 it was reported, that Santos had returned to Copenhagen because he couldn't extend his work permit in Spain. On 31 January 2021 Copenhagen confirmed, that Santos' contract had been terminated by mutual consent.

Talleres

On 6 February 2021, Santos signed a three-year contract with

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

side Talleres.

International career

On 17 June 2015, Santos was included in Uruguay under-23s' 18-man list for the year's

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

. He appeared in five matches during the tournament, scoring one goal against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, as his side was crowned champions. On 29 August 2015, Santos was called up to the senior squad by manager

Óscar Tabárez Óscar Washington Tabárez Silva (; born 3 March 1947), known as ''El Maestro'' (The Teacher), is a Uruguayan former professional football manager and former player. After an unassuming career as a player and after working as a primary school ...

as a replacement to injured

Abel Hernández Abel Mathías Hernández Platero (born 8 August 1990) is a Uruguayan professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Uruguayan Primera División club Liverpool F.C. (Montevideo), Liverpo ...

. He made his full international debut on 8 September, replacing Jonathan Rodríguez against

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Career statistics

Honours

Club

River Plate * Torneo Preparación: 2012 * Copa Integración: 2012 Vélez Sarsfield *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Uruguay U23 *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual

Top scorer:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

(shared with Pablo Vegetti) *

Team of the Season:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Michael 1993 births Living people Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Uruguay men's international footballers Footballers from Montevideo Men's association football forwards Pan American Games gold medalists in football Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Uruguay Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Club Atlético River Plate (Montevideo) players Málaga CF players Sporting de Gijón players CD Leganés players F.C. Copenhagen players Talleres de Córdoba footballers FC Juárez footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Argentine Primera División players La Liga players Danish Superliga players Liga MX players Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico