Marked for Igor Vinicius
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Billal Brahimi
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Santos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neymar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Santos
Rony was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vinicius Rocha and Santos agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Igor Vinicius, and the manager let it.
Market15 Mar 2027
Neymar linked with a move away
The name of Neymar keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Santos say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Igor Vinicius gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Igor Vinicius is on it.
Market15 Mar 2027
Santos have let the market know Álvaro Barreal can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Santos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Rodrigo Bezerra has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Neymar signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Neymar and Santos agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Santos
Álvaro Barreal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Gabriel Menino falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alex Assis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Guilherme Guimarães is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mateus Guimarães is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fernando Moreira is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
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The dugout
Neymar loses the manager who believed in him
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The dugout
When it matters, Thaciano plays
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The dugout
Igor Vinicius knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Santos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Rodriguinho again, and this time the name on the line is Omiya Ardija. Santos are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Santos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álvaro Barreal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Santos
João Schmidt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Willian Arão gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Igor Vinicius gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Igor Vinicius is on it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Santos will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
A door opens for Thaciano
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
The goals keep arriving from JP Murilo’s exile
3 goals in 3 games at Malavan — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Santos updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
Bayer Leverkusen pay $16.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Santos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. JP Murilo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $16.5M sale of Gabriel Brazão
He is going to Bayer Leverkusen, the club has $16.5M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neymar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Santos asked and Sport Recife said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Igor Vinicius has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Santos will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
1‑4 to Botafogo, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Otávio: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Santos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Santos
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Neymar
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Santos
João Schmidt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Barreal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Santos dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.89 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nicola Profeta has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The step up is real for João Pedro
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Santos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neymar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Gabriel Bontempo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Santos.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Santos
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Igor Vinicius gets picked when it counts
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The dugout
Lima left out for tactical reasons at Santos