While footballers often make a lot of money during their careers, once they hang up their boots it can be far more difficult to make a living, but not for one former Tottenham Hotspur player.
Giovanni Dos Santos flopped at Tottenham Hotspur
One described as the next Lionel Messi, Tottenham Hotspur believed they had snapped up one of the most exciting talents in world football when they signed Giovanni Dos Santos back in 2008.
Things did not work out for the Mexican attacker at White Hart Lane, though, as he registered just three goals and three assists in 33 appearances for the Lilywhites.
After a few loan spells with the likes of Ipswich Town, Galatasaray, and Racing Santander, Spurs eventually cut their losses and sold Dos Santos to Real Mallorca in 2012.
Dos Santos never really got going regardless of where he played, though, and stints with Villarreal and LA Galaxy led him back to Mexico before he officially retired in 2023.
What has Giovanni Dos Santos been up to since he retired?
In the year since, Dos Santos has made a real success of himself, and he’s nowhere near the footballing world now.
According to a source speaking to The Sun, Dos Santos has been investing in Procura Mexico, a company which is part of Mexico’s state-owned oil corporation, Pemex.
In doing so, the former Spurs man is now thought to be pulling in roughly £400,000 per year. The source said: “According to our information, his new job brings him in four to five hundred thousand dollars a year – over 10 million Mexican pesos.”
Naturally, Dos Santos was earning fairly good money at Tottenham, and indeed, very likely was compensated nicely throughout his whole playing career. But, as that didn’t work out for him, the 35-year-old has clearly landed on his feet in a very different way now.