Franco Di Santo

Franco di Santo has said that he wants to stay at Wigan Athletic. Santo’s contract is going to expire at the end of the ongoing season and it’s unclear whether Wigan management is interested in giving him a contract extension or not. However, Santo has made his intentions clear.

Santo has been a part of Wigan Athletic since the last two and half years. He has performed quite well during his tenure at Wigan so far.

In the last season, Wigan was in the danger of being relegated. It was Santo who had played a major role in saving them from that. He had found the net in the vital matches towards the end of the season and had helped Wigan in securing important points.

Santo had a very good start in this season as well. He was looking in brilliant nick in the first half of the season, but, after January, his form has dipped down. He has not found the net even once in the last couple of months.

Santo has scored only five goals in the ongoing Premier League.

There have been a few reports that the Italian Serie A side Lazio is interested in signing Santo. According to an Italian newspaper, the president of Lazio Claudio Lotito is quite impressed with Santo and he wants to buy him.

When asked about his future plans, Santo said, “I want to stay here at Wigan. I love playing in Wigan shirt and I don’t want to join any other club. Let’s see what happens in the next few months. Hopefully, I will get a contract extension.”

“This season has been decent for us. We are in the final 4 of the FA Cup and we are desperate to win this competition.”

“In league, we could have done better. We lost too many games in the first half of the season and that pushed us back. Now, we should try to finish the season well.”

Wigan have given them a real chance of making it into the final of the FA Cup, as they could be facing either Blackburn or Millwall in the semi-final of the competition. The club recently managed to get into Wembley for the first time after the 3-0 defeat of Everton in the quarter-finals.

Wigan were absolutely extraordinary in the match, as they tore apart a very poor Everton team. Even though Wigan managed to score all their goals in the space of a few minutes, they were the dominant team throughout the match and rightly deserved to go through into the next round.

However, the club still remains in a relegation fight. It is possible that Wigan could find themselves in a similar position to what Portsmouth did a few years ago – relegation and reaching the FA Cup final.

This has prompted the manager Roberto Martinez to acknowledge the fact that Premier league survival remains the priority for the team despite the semi-final appearance. Wigan have managed to establish themselves in the Premier league after coming up more than eight years ago. However, they have consistently flirted with relegation during this period only to escape in the final few weeks of the campaign. The club remain four points off safety with eight matches remaining in the season.

"Since I have arrived at Wigan we want cup success, but not at the expense of the league form. Making nine or 10 changes is a need in the modern game. The difference now is this season we have a group of 24 players who have shown when they get the opportunity they are competitive. If anything this cup run has given us extra players," said Martinez. The team have once again managed to find form at just the right stage in the season.

The Wigan athletic manager Roberto Martinez has said that he is extremely happy for the Argentine striker Franco di Santo, who has been called up for the Argentine international team for the first time ever.

The 23-year-old striker first made his entrance into English football through Chelsea, but had found first-team opportunities limited at Stamford Bridge. Since then, he has played for Blackburn Rovers, but his most productive spell has come at Wigan Athletic. Under the guidance of the manager Roberto Martinez, he has been able to establish himself as the first choice regular at the DW stadium.

He was made 10 appearances in the Premier league this season and has managed three goals. Even though his goal to game ratio may not be the best around, Martinez has said that it is extremely important to appreciate the overall contribution he does to the team. He has also said that playing alongside the likes of Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero will help him even better. Roberto Martinez also praised the way the Argentina national team manager Alejandro Sabella has looked at a player playing for a relatively lesser known club like Wigan and picking him for the national team.

"Franco di Santo is developing into a top footballer. He's only 23 but he's come on a lot. Obviously being called up by Argentina and playing with the likes of Messi and Sergio Aguero is going to do him a lot of good but we still know that he needs to carry on enjoying his football. I could see it coming because I work with him every day. You get a bit biased because you know the player," said Roberto Martinez. Argentina will be playing against Saudi Arabia in a friendly match during the midweek international fixtures, while Wigan will face Liverpool during the weekend.

The manager of Wigan Athletic, Roberto Maurtinez, has praised Franco Di Santo for his brilliant performance in the match against Stoke City which was played at the DW Stadium. Neither of the two teams managed to secure a victory and the match ended in a draw, but, Santo’s performance was superb in the match.

The Argentinean has been in great form in the ongoing season and he had also scored a goal in Wigan’s 2-0 victory over Southampton a few days ago, before telling Chelsea news that the move had been the best one for his career, even if he had had to leave Stamford Bridge.

In the match against Stoke City, Franco Di Santo scored the second goal for Wigan. He got the ball near the penalty box and he didn’t make any mistake in finding the net with a flat shot. That goal took Wigan ahead in the match by 2-1, but, the team didn’t manage to maintain the lead throughout the match and Peter Crouch scored the leveller for Stoke just a few minutes before the end of the match.

However, Maurtinez was quite satisfied with the team’s performance in the match. The Wigan’s manager said that it was a pretty decent performance from the boys. Santo was again the stand out performer. He has been a wonderful asset for the club in the last two seasons. He is one of those players who have got great concentration level. The team is expecting some more goals from him in the upcoming matches and hopefully, he would deliver as he so often does.

Earlier in the match, Wigan took a lead in the 5th minute with the goal of Shaun Maloney who blasted the ball into the bottom corner of the net from a distance of 12 yards. The goal keeper of Stoke City, Asmir Begovic, went the other way and missed the ball completely. But, Jonathan Walters latched on the penalty kick in the 40th minute to level the scores. Wigan will play its next match against Manchester United on 15th of September at Old Trafford.

The Wigan athletic striker Franco di Santo has said that he is under no illusions that the upcoming Premier league season is going to be easy. Wigan have been surviving in the Premier league for the last eight seasons in the most spectacular fashion after they have avoided relegation from the Premier league on the final day of the season on many occasions.

Last season, they looked dead and buried midway through the campaign. However, a spectacular end to the season meant that they finished without any relegation worries. The former Chelsea striker Franco di Santo was one of the surprising packages of last season for Wigan.

He was signed by the manager Roberto Martinez for just around £ 1.5 million. He may not have scored a lot of goals to help Wigan stay in the Premier league, but his overall play has been extremely good. Wigan have lost a couple of important players in the summer transfer window, while the likes of Victor Moses have been consistently linked with a move to Chelsea. As a result, many expect Wigan to once again struggle in the division and Franco di Santo is ready for the same.

"I think this season now is going to be even tougher now that teams will not underestimate us after what we did last year, and maybe some of the big teams we defeated will all be looking for revenge, so we have to be ready for that. Perhaps they will take greater precaution against us and be more aware of what we are capable of, so we need to be even better in our preparations and approach to every game," said the Wigan striker Franco di Santo ahead of the start of the new season. Wigan are expected to have a new pitch in place for this season.

Wigan athletic striker Franco di Santo has said that he will not show Blackburn any mercy when he comes up against one of his former clubs. Franco di Santo played for Blackburn Rovers for one single season on loan deal from Chelsea.

Even though he scored only one goal during the entire season with Blackburn, he has said that he has fond memories of Ewood Park. However, that will not stop him from scoring the goal that will send them down to the Championship. Wigan have the opportunity to preserve their Premier league status for another season if they win against Blackburn Rovers on Monday night.

Blackburn realistically have to win their remaining two matches in hand in order to have any chance of staying in the division. This is extremely tough given that they will be facing Champions League finalists Chelsea in the final day of the season. Yet, Blackburn manager Steve Kean has been speaking extremely confident about his team's chances of survival next season. Steve Kean got Blackburn to safety on the final day of last season after a thrilling 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day of the season. It is going to be difficult this time around because they will be facing an in form Wigan.

“It’s not about sending anyone down. It’s about how he would feel about achieving Premier League status for Wigan because we’re fighting for our lives,” said Franco di Santo. “I think it’s just the age that has made him click. Remember, he’s a very young man. He had a great experience in Chile at 16 and then he came to a massive club in the shape of Chelsea. Straight away he played Champions League football and in a team fighting to win the title. As a player he probably needed different experiences to try and develop as an individual because he was in a group winning things," said Martinez.

Wigan striker Franco Di Santo has said that they certainly do not fear Chelsea and are in the right frame of mind to take on the London club. Wigan have suffered a lot in the matches against Chelsea in recent seasons.

They lost this fixture by 6-0 last season, but things are certainly different at Chelsea right now. Franco Di Santo says that Wigan are in the right frame of mind to take advantage of the troubles that Chelsea have been facing recently. Even though Chelsea come on the back of three straight victories against tough opponents like Manchester City and Valencia, Franco Di Santo believes that Wigan are in a good run of form too.

Wigan athletic have just taken two away victories on the bounce at Sunderland and West Brom. It has helped them to get away from the bottom of the table to a position of relative safety. The two away wins has provided them with much needed confidence as well. They are no longer separate from the pack of relegation strugglers, as they can get away from the relegation zone with a win over Chelsea. Franco Di Santo started his life in England with Chelsea a few seasons ago. He was sent out on loan to Blackburn Rovers, while Chelsea eventually decided that he was not part of their plans.

Wigan signed him a few seasons ago and he has been a regular for them. "It's always exciting to come up against them. Didier and myself keep in touch – we talk often about football and life. I think everyone can see he is the best striker in the Premier League. But it's no problem for us. We're in a good moment now," said Di Santo when asked about facing his former club.