Santiago Arias is a professional footballer from Colombia who is a member of the Colombia national team and plays the right back position.
He most recently played for Granada, who Atletico Madrid loaned him to play for, and he is a free agent at this time.
It has been rumoured that Manchester United are interested in acquiring the services of Colombian right defender Santiago Arias, who is now a free agent after being released by Atletico Madrid earlier this summer.
10 Facts About Santiago Arias
- He goes by Santiago Arias Naranjo as his full name. His birthday is January 13th, 1992, and he was born in Medellin, Colombia.
- Santiago Arias attended the La Equidad academy as a young man and graduated there. During the 2009 season, he was promoted to the senior squad, and he made his debut in a professional game against Deportes Tolima in the same year.
- Santiago Arias was a member of the Colombia U17 team that competed in the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup and finished in fourth place. He played in all of Colombia’s matches (with the exception of the match for third place, for a total of six appearances) and scored the first penalty for his team in the quarterfinal penalty shootout against Turkey.
- Santiago Arias was signed by Sporting Lisbon from La Equidad on July 1, 2011, in exchange for a transfer fee of 300,000 Euros and a five-year contract extension.
- Santiago Arias was connected to PSV in July 2013, and both parties reached an agreement to finalise a contract at that time. After that, it was reported that Santiago Arias had signed a four-year contract with PSV, and that PSV had paid Sporting Lisbon €1.6 million for a package deal that included fellow Sporting player Stijn Schaars.
- Following Camilo Zúñigas injury in September 2013, Santiago Arias was given his first call up for Colombia’s senior team to compete in the 2014 World Cup qualifying matches against Chile and Paraguay. These matches were scheduled to take place in September 2013.
- In a deal that was finalised on July 31, 2018, it was reported that Santiago Arias had transferred to Atlético Madrid for an estimated £11 million. A #4 jersey was waiting for him when he arrived.
- On September 3, 2020, Santiago Arias had a test for coronavirus that came back positive.
- Santiago Arias joined Bayer Leverkusen on 24 September 2020 on a loan for the new season with an option to buy the player’s contract. A catastrophic injury suffered on international service in October limited his Leverkusen career to a single Bundesliga appearance. He had a fractured fibula and damaged ankle ligaments.
- On August 30, 2021, Santiago Arias made the transfer to Granada CF as part of a loan agreement lasting one year.
