De los Santos was born in
Salto. After winning three consecutive
Primera División titles with
Peñarol he moved to
Spain, where he represented
CP Mérida,
Málaga CF (achieving
La Liga promotion in
1999),
Valencia CF – appearing in 13 matches for the
2002 league champions –
Atlético Madrid and
RCD Mallorca; at the latter club, he reunited with former Valencia teammate
Jorge López, who had also been loaned shortly before. For the
2006–07 campaign, after having spent one year on the sidelines, de los Santos joined
Segunda División side
Hércules CF. After two seasons where he was relatively unused, he returned to Peñarol on 29 July 2008, retiring from football two years later at the age of 34. ==International career==