Sheffield United: Meet the former Blade who helped bring a World Cup winner to England
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Nearly two-and-a-half decades after arriving on these shores, Santos’ accent still betrays the fact he was born in Marseille. The same, as he traces the journey he has been on since leaving Provence in fluent English, does his delightful turn of phrase.
Now aged 51, Santos has reinvented himself countless times over the years. After also representing clubs including Tranmere Rovers, West Bromwich Albion and Queens Park Rangers either side of his memorable spell at Bramall Lane, this self-confessed Anglophile is now building a reputation as a European scout. Following a spell at Blackburn Rovers, where he was instrumental in the process which delivered Steven Nzonzi to Ewood Park, Santos was then hired by Manchester City, Mallorca and Olympique de Marseille before appearing on West Ham’s radar. Having left the Stade Velodrome following a behind the scenes revamp, he now oversees the Londoners’ intelligence gathering operations in Holland and across the Ligue de Football Professionnel.
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Hide AdBy his own admission, another ex-United player, Laurent D’Jaffo, was responsible for shaping the latest phase of his career. “To be honest, I didn’t know what to do when I retired. I missed the game, the banter. I had a conversation with Laurent, who’s an agent now, and he told me: ‘You have knowledge of the French market, so why not use it?’ So I sent some CV’s out.”
One of those landed on the desk of Sam Allardyce, who was managing Rovers at the time. Clearly intrigued by what he read, Santos was offered a position in Rovers’ recruitment department and quickly made his presence felt.
“That was when I saw Nzonzi,” he says, explaining how the midfielder, a member of France’s 2018 World Cup winning team, ended up in Lancashire. “He was at Amiens. Paris St Germain told him he wasn’t good enough but a connection reckoned I should go and look at him. I did, and you could see what he had. I made a recommendation and Sam, after looking into it, accepted. The rest is history.”
Santos’ work, combined with his understanding of English culture, has seen plenty more of the game’s leading names appear on his radar.
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Hide Ad“I remember, at Marseille before they dismantled their entire scouring system, we were looking at Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount,” Santos remembers. “But it was impossible to talk to them because Chelsea were under a transfer ban. They were so talented but also with the right mentality and that’s something, particularly when you are bringing in players from abroad, you have to be mindful of.
“Mason is in their first team now and doing brilliantly of course. Tomori is at Milan, because he wanted to play, and I saw him do an interview the other day in Italian. Excellent!
“For Dutch players, coming here lifestyle wise can be easy because English is their second language.
“For French players, maybe less so because things are very different.”
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Hide AdThe process Santos uses to identify not only footballers with the talent to prosper at Premier League level but also settle in this country is partly driven by data - “That helps guide you” - partly by his eyes - “They tell you more than anything” - but mostly by his own personal experiences.
Confessing he “didn’t speak a word of the language” after being signed by Tranmere Rovers in 1998, Santos took a conscious decision to embrace the English culture. The move from Toulon proved to be a life-changing moment, with United capturing him from West Bromwich Albion following a contractual misunderstanding. Santos would go on to spend two seasons in South Yorkshire before being forced to say goodbye in controversial and, he later acknowledges, upsetting circumstances.
“The first words of English I spoke were all the bad ones,” Santos laughs. “The lads at Tranmere taught me them. I remember meeting someone who turned out to be a teacher - we’re still friends - in my hotel and he said ‘George, you can’t say those things!’
“Everything, to begin with, confused me. Driving on the other side of the road, eating so early in the evening because we do it late in France and shops closing early. But I adapted. After a couple of months, I told my parents I was going to try and finish my career here.”
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Hide AdThe last of Santos’ 68 appearances for United came in 2002, when he was sent-off during the ‘Battle of Bramall Lane’ against his former team mates from The Hawthorns. The match was abandoned when United, who had seen Simon Tracey dismissed early on, found themselves down to six men after Patrick Suffo was also red carded during the melee spared by Santos’ tackle on Andy Johnson. The previous season Santos had suffered a fractured cheekbone after being elbowed by the then Nottingham Forest man.
“You see videos of my tackle, but none of what led me to me still having a steel plate in my face,” he says. “I nearly lost an eye and didn’t know if my career was over. I was told after coming back I couldn't play for United anymore, Patrick too, and I didn’t feel that was right. I ended up going to Grimsby after chatting with an old mate in the tunnel after going to watch us play there.”
Fortunately, that sense of grievance did not sour Santos’ relationship with either Sheffield, United or England as a whole.
“I still live in Sheffield, my partner is from here and I enjoy going back to United and meeting all the fans, chatting with them. I always tell people the English mentality suits me perfectly, because I always gave 100 percent and sometimes more. And here, people appreciate hard work.”