Coutinho joins Santos on free transfer to reunite with Neymar
Philippe Coutinho has joined Santos on a free transfer until the end of the season, bringing him together with former Brazil team-mate Neymar at the Brazilian club.
Santos announced the deal on Monday and shared a video of Coutinho arriving at the club. In the footage, he walks into the dressing room before being welcomed by Neymar.
“If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up,” Neymar tells Coutinho in the video.
The pair have played together many times for Brazil, but this will be their first spell as club team-mates. They did not overlap at Barcelona. Neymar left the Spanish club for Paris Saint-Germain in August 2017, while Coutinho joined Barcelona from Liverpool in January 2018.
Coutinho had spent five years at Liverpool before making that move to Spain.
He won two LaLiga titles during his time at Barcelona, although his career there did not go as expected after a big-money transfer.
The 33-year-old's path has since taken him through several clubs and loan spells. He returned to Brazil in 2024 to rejoin boyhood club Vasco da Gama, but left in February this year. Santos have now given him another chance to rebuild his career in the Brazilian top flight.
For Santos, the arrival adds another well-known name to a squad already built around Neymar. The club will hope Coutinho can offer creativity from midfield or from the left side of attack, where he has often been at his best. His ability to receive the ball between the lines and shoot from distance could give Santos more options in the final third.
Coutinho last played for Brazil in March 2022. Neymar, now 34, returned to Santos last year and announced his international retirement after Brazil were knocked out of the World Cup in July.
Their reunion will bring obvious attention to Santos, but the football side matters too. Both players know Brazilian football well, have shared a dressing room for the national team and have the technical quality to combine in tight areas. Santos will now wait to see how quickly Coutinho can regain match rhythm and settle into the side.
The contract runs only until the end of the season, so Coutinho has a clear period to prove his value. Neymar's welcome made the mood clear: Santos are happy to have him, and two familiar Brazil team-mates are together again for the first time at club level.
