Jesús Manuel 'Suso' Santana Abreu (born 2 March 1985) is a Spanish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He started his professional career with

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

, but was loaned several times to lower league teams until the end of his contract. In 2009, he moved to the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

with Hearts, where he remained three years. In 2012, Santana returned to Tenerife. Over nine seasons in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

with the club, he amassed totals of 288 matches and 33 goals.

Club career

Tenerife

Born in

San Cristóbal de La Laguna San Cristóbal de La Laguna (commonly known as La Laguna, ) is a city and municipality in the northern part of the island of Tenerife in the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on the Canary Islands, Spain. The former capital of the Canary Islan ...

Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, also Province of Santa Cruz (), is a province of Spain, consisting of the western part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. It consists of about half of the Atlantic archipelago: the islands o ...

, Santana began his professional career at local

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

, signing in 2002 with its youth system. Early on, he was loaned to

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

sides Atlético Arona CF and AD Laguna, in order to gain experience. Santana played one full season with Tenerife in

, but opportunities continued to be limited for him in the main squad and another two loan spells ensued, now with

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

teams

CD San Isidro Club Deportivo Raqui San Isidro is a Spanish football team based in San Isidro, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded in 1970 it plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio La Palmera'', with a 2,500-seat capacity. Season to s ...

and

UD Fuerteventura Unión Deportiva Fuerteventura was a Spanish football team based in Fuerteventura, in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. Founded in 2004 and dissolved in 2010, it played its last season ( 2009–10) in Tercera División, and held ho ...

. With the former, he finished as top scorer in the 2008–09 campaign with nine goals from the right side of midfield, although they would be relegated due to financial problems.

Hearts

Santana's performances caught the eye of Hearts manager Csaba László, who signed him on a free transfer from Tenerife on 30 June 2009. He got off to a good start at

Tynecastle Stadium Tynecastle Park, also known as Tynecastle Stadium, is a association football, football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian F.C., Heart of Midlothian ...

, playing in every pre-season game and particularly impressing in

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

(where he set up the only goal) and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, putting in

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

performances. However, in the

, Santana's displays were somewhat erratic: during a 2–2 draw with

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

, he was replaced after an alleged spitting incident. He improved from there onwards, again being named man of the match in the side's 1–0 win over

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

on 15 September 2009. He scored his first goal for the club five days later, opening a 2–1 defeat against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

with a long-range shot. Santana's second goal for Hearts came on 26 September 2009, the second in a 2–1 victory over

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

. He also netted against eventual champions

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

in a 1–4 home loss, from a volley. Santana's second season in Scotland was hit by injuries, and he never really managed to get a consistent run together, also having to undergo knee surgery in late April 2011. After returning to full fitness, he began appearing as a substitute. On 18 March 2012 he scored his second goal of the campaign, netting in the 90th minute of a 2–0

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

defeat of Hibernian. He also helped the team win the season's

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

and Tenerife on 6 July 2012. He scored five goals in his first season in his second stint, helping the club return to the second tier after one year out. Santana featured regularly for ''Tete'' in the following campaigns while acting as

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

, only losing his first-choice status in 2019–20. On 8 June 2021, aged 36 and having made 337 competitive appearances, he retired from professional football.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Suso 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from San Cristóbal de La Laguna 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Men's association football wingers Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Tenerife players Scottish Premier League players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland