Philippe Coutinho has signed for Santos until the end of the season, linking up with longtime friend and Brazil team-mate Neymar for the first time at club level.
The 34-year-old midfielder had been a free agent since leaving Vasco da Gama in February. He returned to his boyhood club in 2024 and went on to make 81 appearances before ending his second spell there after acknowledging the mental strain he had been feeling.
Santos marked Coutinho’s arrival by highlighting his long friendship with Neymar. The club shared an image of the pair together as teenagers alongside a modern recreation of the same pose, while another video showed Neymar welcoming Coutinho into the dressing room.
The move brings together two players whose careers have crossed repeatedly with the Brazil national team but never previously at the same club.
Neymar made his own return to Santos in January 2025, rejoining the team where he began his professional career. Coutinho’s arrival now gives Santos two of Brazil’s most recognisable attacking players for the remainder of the campaign.
Coutinho also started his senior career in Brazil with Vasco before moving to Inter Milan. His most productive spell in Europe came at Liverpool, where he scored 54 goals in 201 appearances after joining in 2013.
Barcelona signed him in 2018 in a deal worth £142 million, but his time in Spain failed to match the impact he had made in the Premier League. He later represented Bayern Munich, Aston Villa and Qatari side Al-Duhail before returning to Vasco.
His latest move takes him back to Brazilian football once again, this time with Santos and alongside a close friend with whom he has shared much of his international career.