Gabriel dos Santos

A professional football player from Brazil, Gabriel Rodrigues dos Santos plays as a defender in the right-back position. Gabriel is a product of the Sao Paulo youth academy from where he graduated in 2001. Getting into the first team at Sao Paulo took a bit of effort because Gabriel still wasn’t up to the professional standards of the team.

He, however, managed to make his breakthrough and once inside, became a permanent member of the first team. Between, 2001 and 2005, Gabriel made over 60 league appearance for Sao Paulo, scoring 5 goals. He moved to Fluminense in 2005, after helping Sao Paulo win the 2001 Rio-Sao Paulo tournament, the 2002 Sao Paulo State League, the 2005 Rio de Janeiro Cup and the 2005 Rio de Janeiro State League titles.

While playing for Fluminense in 2005, Gabriel hit the peak of his career, scoring 24 goals in 65 appearances for the season. He was picked up by Malaga before the end of the year, but in 2005-06, Gabriel failed to recreate that form. He played 17 games but was sent out on loan to Cruzeiro for 2006-07, as Malaga considered him surplus to their requirements.

Gabriel moved to Cruzeiro and played 16 games, scoring 4 times, before moving to Fluminense in 2007. 44 games and 4 goals came from Gabriel’s second stint at Fluminense that ended when Panathinaikos signed Gabriel and took him to Greece in 2008. After 35 games and 6 goals for the Greek side, Gabriel began finding it difficult to keep his place in the side.

Even though the club was impressed by this fast defender, they wanted more and despite the 2009-10 league title win, Gabriel was on his way to Brazil on another loan move. Gremio was the destination and after the conclusion of the 37 game and 3 goal long loan move, Gremio decided to sign Gabriel on a permanent deal. He remains an important part of the first team at Gremio.