Neymar Reunited With Former Brazil Teammate, Champions League Winner at Santos

Former Liverpool, Barcelona and Brazil star, Philippe Coutinho, has joined Brazilian side Santos, where he will reunite with former teammate and long-time friend Neymar.

Coutinho has been without a club since February, when he terminated his contract with boyhood club Vasco da Gama citing mental exhaustion as the main reason for his decision. Retirement was reportedly an option, but the 34-year-old attacking midfielder has instead decided to continue his career at Santos.

Ready to return to the pitch, Coutinho inked a deal with Santos valid until the end of the current season in December. El Peixe are currently 10th in the Brazilian league standings and 90 minutes away from qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana (South America’s Europa League) semifinals.

At Santos, Coutinho will be reunited with former teammates such as Arthur and Gabriel Barbosa, but the most significant reunion will be with Neymar, who Coutinho revealed was essential in him landing at Santos.

Coutinho Reveals Neymar’s Role In Santos Move

Coutinho was officially unveiled at Santos on Monday and the “little magician” was formally introduced in a news conference. There, he admitted just how crucial Neymar was to him joining the club, revealing it’s a move that’s been in the works for months.

“Neymar certainly played a very important role in my coming here,” Coutinho said, via ESPN. “He’s a player who needs no introduction, a friend I’ve had since childhood, and I think he was the first person in football to send me a message when I left Vasco.

“The next day he had already sent me a message, but at that moment I said: ‘Look Ney, it would be a pleasure to play with you, but I’m not feeling well right now, it’s not possible’ and it really didn’t make sense to me.

“Months later he contacted me again, but my answer was the same. Then two weeks ago he sent me another message. Then I stopped, reconsidered, I wanted to go back to playing football and I thought: ‘Why not?’ I’m going to a big club, in another city. It would be unfair to me not being able to go back to work and not being able to go back to playing football. I wanted to thank the president [Marcelo Teixeira], [Alexandre] Mattos and Ney. I’m happy to accept this challenge.”

Neymar welcomed Coutinho to Santos at the club’s training ground in a video posted on social media on Monday. After sharing a massive hug, Neymar is heard saying, “If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.”

Neymar and Coutinho’s Careers Have Always Been Intertwined

Neymar, Philippe Coutinho — Neymar (left) and Coutinho rose through Brazil’s youth ranks together. | Jamie McDonald/FIFA/Getty Images

Both born in 1992, Neymar and Coutinho played together for Brazil’s youth teams growing up, featuring together at the 2009 FIFA U–17 World Cup. Neymar’s rise to the senior Brazil national team was meteoric but eventually Coutinho joined him at La Seleçao and the pair were focal points of the team in the late 2010s.

The pair led Brazil’s attack at the 2018 World Cup, scoring two goals each in a run to the quarterfinals. That was the last senior international tournament the pair played together given an ankle injury denied Neymar from playing in the 2019 Copa América, which Coutinho and Brazil lifted. Coutinho and Neymar last played together in a friendly vs. South Korea in June 2022.

At the club level, Coutinho joined Barcelona in January 2018, six months after Neymar’s record-setting transfer to Paris Saint-Germain. Following a brilliant stint with Liverpool, Coutinho landed at Catalonia as part of Barça’s plan to fill the void left by Neymar’s departure.

Coutinho’s Barcelona career was massively underwhelming and two seasons later he was moved on loan to Bayern Munich. There, Coutinho won it all in his lone season at the club, conquering the 2019–20 Champions League title at the expense of Neymar’s PSG in the final.

After brief, unremarkable stints at Aston Villa, Al Duhail SC and Vasco da Gama, Coutinho will start a new chapter at Santos, where finally he’ll get to play alongside Neymar at the club level for the first time in their respective careers.

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