At the beginning of the past decade, the generation led by Neymar and Paulo Henrique Ganso helped Santos live one of his most victorious phases on the pitch after the Pelé era.
There were six cups won between 2010 and 2012, with the three-time Paulista championship and the Brazilian Cup titles, the Copa Libertadores and the South American Recopa.
Back to the club in 2025 in search of a fresh start in football, Neymar reunites the team in a very different phase.
With series managers criticized by the stands, growing debts and little money to form competitive casts, the Vila Belmiro team has not won an elite title since the Paulista Championship of the long season 2016.
Since then, the team has reached the state final only once, taking the runner-up in the decision of the last edition, against Palmeiras. And it even flirted with the relegation to A2, the second division of São Paulo, on more than one occasion.
In the Brazilian Championship, after a series of campaigns only at most average since 2020, with no pretense to fight for the title, Santos bitter the fall for Serie B in 2023.
The descent to the national second division was attributed by much of the stands to the management of President Andres Rueda, who took over the club in 2021. The top hat was harshly criticized for the constant exchanges of coaches – ten years of management, not to mention the not counting the Interinos – and the lack of weight reinforcements for the cast.
Rueda left without titles at the end of 2023, leaving a debt of approximately $ 600 million.
His predecessors in the presidency of Santos had not missed him either. José Carlos Peres left by impeachment in 2020, for irregularities in the club’s finances, months after modest Roma Junior was expelled from the board of members because he did not have the accounts of his approved management.
In 2024, already chaired by Marcelo Teixeira, with a cast led by experienced players – as defender Gil and midfielder Giuliano -, Santos made a surprising campaign in Paulista and, then, engaged a promising beginning in Serie B, With three straight wins, giving the fans the hope that would gain access without further difficulties.
The return to the main division of the Brazilian was guaranteed in the previous last round. Unable to present a showy football, coach Fábio Carille had the work quite contested by the fans, and the board opted to resign even before the end of the championship.
Now Santos bets on the reissue of the successful partnership with Neymar to replace himself as one of the main forces of Brazilian football.
While the star sees in the return to the team that revealed him the opportunity to recover the physical form and play more regularly after the passage marked by lesions in Saudi football, the beach club sees the chance to increase the crowd and the chance of increasing the crowd and the arrival of the fans and The recipes in the year that returns to Serie A.
In Vila Belmiro, the hiring of the striker is expected to boost the values of the sponsorship quotas and the club’s club-borne program.
The board hopes, thus, to have the ability to set up a strong team for the Brazilian dispute, which starts in March, hiring players who help Neymar resume protagonism on the pitch.
Tiquinho Soares, Zé Rafael and Gabriel Veron are some of the reinforcements closed so far. Ron, from Palmeiras, and Paulo Henrique Ganso, from Fluminense, with whom Neymar formed a successful duo for over a decade, are among the names considered.
Neymar should review Santos on Saturday (1st). He is expected in Vila Belmiro to greet the fans and follow the game against São Paulo, for the sixth round of the Paulista Championship. After four rounds, Santos has a victory, a draw and two losses.
