Santiago García (born 8 July 1988) is an Argentine professional

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 most recently played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Club Alianza Lima Club Alianza Lima, more commonly known as simply Alianza Lima, is a Peru, Peruvian professional sports club based in La Victoria District, Lima, La Victoria District of Lima, Peru. The club was founded under the name of Sport Alianza on February ...

Club career

Rosario Central

García started his career at hometown club

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central (), more commonly referred to as Rosario Central, or simply Central, is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on 24 December 1889, ...

, playing his first game with the team on a 1–0 defeat to

Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (; ''La Plata Gymnastics and Fencing Club''), also known simply as Gimnasia, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the city of La Plata, Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1887 as "Club de Gimnasia ...

during the 2008 Apertura tournament. He broke into the starting eleven during the 2010 Clausura tournament under the guidance of head coach Ariel Cuffaro Russo, relegating Ecuadorian international Paúl Ambrosi to the bench. García made a total 13 positive appearances which led to interest from a number of European clubs.

Palermo and loan to Novara

On 12 July 2010,

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

chairman and owner

Maurizio Zamparini Maurizio Zamparini (9 June 1941 – 1 February 2022) was an Italian businessman. He was the owner and director of football club Palermo between July 2002 – February 2017 and from July 2017 – December 2018. Biography Zamparini had business ...

confirmed the signing of the Argentine defender from Rosario Central. He debuted with the ''rosanero'' on 30 September against

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. On 19 July 2011, newly promoted Serie A club

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

confirmed on its website to have signed García on loan from Palermo, with an option to acquire half of the player's rights by the end of the season. He scored his first goal in the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

on 13 May 2012 against

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. In the 2012–13 season, he returned to Palermo to replace Federico Balzaretti, who moved to

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

. In his second full season at the ''rosanero'', he suffered relegation to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

and was often criticized by the team supporters due to the alleged poor quality of his performances. In July 2013, García did not answer to the pre-season call-up from Palermo, his agent stating his intention not to play for the Sicilians anymore.

Werder Bremen

On 1 September 2013, Palermo announced to have loaned García to

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

with an option to sign him permanently. In October 2013, Werder Bremen expressed their interest in turning the loan into a permanent deal. In May 2017, Werder Bremen announced that García would leave the club at the end of the season after they had failed to agree a contract extension. In his four years at the club, he made a total of 99 appearances across all competitions, scoring 5 goals and contributing 10 assists.

Toluca

In June 2017, García joined

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

club

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

Alianza Lima

In December 2022 it was announced that García would join

for the 2023 season, having trialled with the club in pre-season.

Personal life

García also holds Spanish citizenship. His twin brother,

Manuel Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of Po ...

, is also a professional footballer.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Santiago 1988 births Living people Argentine men's footballers Footballers from Rosario, Santa Fe Men's association football fullbacks Argentine Primera División players Serie A players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Liga MX players Chilean Primera División players Peruvian Primera División players Rosario Central footballers Palermo FC players Novara FC players SV Werder Bremen players Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Unión La Calera footballers Club Alianza Lima footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Chile Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Peru Expatriate men's footballers in Peru 21st-century Argentine sportsmen