Philippe Coutinho Reunites with Neymar at Santos FC

Philippe Coutinho has reunited with close friend and Brazil team-mate Neymar at Santos FC, signing with the club until the end of the season.

The 34-year-old playmaker has been a free agent since leaving Vasco da Gama in February. He had returned to his boyhood side in 2024 and made 81 appearances before walking away, admitting he was "tired mentally".

Now comes a different kind of homecoming.

Santos announced his arrival with a heavy dose of nostalgia, posting an old photograph of Coutinho and Neymar as teenagers alongside a fresh shot of the pair recreating the same pose in the gym. One image from the past, one from the present – and a clear message that the club wants to tap into that shared history.

The club then released a video of Coutinho stepping into the Santos dressing room, where Neymar greets him with a hug. Coutinho, clearly emotional, says: "If it's a dream, I don't want to wake up."

Neymar made his own return to Santos, the club where he grew up and became a global star, in January last year. Despite years together with Brazil, this will be the first time he and Coutinho line up on the same side in club football.

For Coutinho, it adds another chapter to a career that has taken him across the football map. He came through at Vasco before moving to Inter Milan, then exploded at Liverpool after arriving in 2013. In England, he scored 54 goals in 201 games and earned a blockbuster £142m move to Barcelona in 2018.

Spells at Bayern Munich, Aston Villa and Al-Duhail followed, before his short-lived return to Vasco.

Now he lands in Santos, alongside Neymar at last, with one more chance to light up a Brazilian season.