Impressive performances in their first season back in Série A saw Santos FC finish in the top eight and, unexpectedly, qualify for Copa Libertadores. But rising expectations could present a problem for an inexperienced team that would have to endure massive fixture congestion.
Santos endured plenty of change in the off-season. Star midfielder Vinicius Zanocelo’s £9.25m minimum fee release was met by Saudi after contract rebels Yeferson Soteldo and Sandry moved to Mexico for a combined £3m. Centre back Luan Peres also refused to sign a contract and went to Internacional for £2.5m, while Nonato and Patrick left on free transfers.
That left Santos with a healthy £36m in the bank as manager Robinho Lazaró, installed as a fans’ favourite in the off-season, promoted homegrown talent like attackers Luiz Fernando and Gabriel, labelled the next Denílson and Garrincha, midfielders Lucas Rosado and Charles, and centre backs João Alencar, Daniel Maffia and Samuel. However, he was keen to retain experience to guide his young stars, so he snapped up former Spain international Iker Muniain on a free transfer for 12 months from San Lorenzo. Then in July, his South American scouting began to pay off with two exciting talents in midfielder Valentín Corti for £2m from Godoy Cruz and full back Jefferson Jaramillo for £1.6m from El Nacional.
Lazaró retained the narrow 4-3-3 approach that worked well last season. Muniaín effectively steps into Soteldo’s role behind last season’s league top scorer Thierry Henry, and three young stars Izaquiel Penchel, João Victor and Rosado step up as first-choice midfielders.
Santos Return To Copa Libertadores
Santos’ unexpected return to Copa Libertadores football began in the second qualifying round against Uruguayan side River Plate. Penchel’s first two senior goals helped them seize control with a 5-1 home win before Victor scored twice in a 3-0 away win. That took them into a clash with Liga de Quito and Fernando scored his first goal in a 3-1 win in Ecuador before Muniain created two Henry goals in a 4-2 victory at home to cruise into the group stage.
Santos got an interesting group alongside Argentina’s Atlético Tucumán, Colombia’s Águilas Doradas and fellow Brazilians Vasco da Gama. They began in Colombia, dominated by 27 shots to 3, hit the woodwork 4 times, and eased to a 2-0 win through centre back Jair’s header and Muniain’s penalty. Solid defensive efforts earned a 0-0 against Vasco and a 1-0 wins home and away over Tucumán, both decided by late Henry strikes. They booked qualification with Muniain scoring twice and Rosado’s first senior goal in a 4-0 thumping of Águilas Doradas. And a rotated team conceded for the first time and lost 3-0 at Vasco.
Santos took on Argentinian side Talleres in the 2nd round. Midfielder Nicola Profeta and Jaramillo’s first goal for the club seemed to have earned a comfortable home win until Talleres got a dubious 95th-minute penalty. And that proved crucial, as they lost 3-1 in Argentina to suffer an early exit.
Second Season Syndrome In Série A?
Santos began the 2026 season with the annual Paulista Sicredi warmup. Muniain missed a penalty on debut before creating fellow attacking midfielder Victor’s first senior goal in a 2-1 win at Botafogo (SP). A rotated side did well to reach the latter stages but again lost to Palmeiras in the semis. But the big positive was Victor winning Revelecao do Campeonato Paulista (best young player).
The bookies were very much backing Santos to suffer from second season syndrome, tipping them to be relegated in 17th with title odds of 400/1. But Lazaró couldn’t have disagreed more with that assessment. Flamengo are 9/4 favourites followed by Palmeiras (7/2), holders Corinthians (9/2) and Botafogo, Gremio and Internacional (18/1). Luckily, the board only expects Sudamericana qualification.
Santos again began Série A against the holders, and Henry and Victor goals cancelled out a Depay double for a point at home to Corinthians. Muniain scored twice in their first away day, leading a thumping 5-2 win at América (MG), before getting thumped 3-0 at home by Palmeiras. But they responded with Henry scoring twice and Penchel bagging the winner to down Coritiba 3-2 and Fernando’s first league goal earned a 1-1 at Vasco.
A ludicrous schedule saw Santos play weekend and midweek every week from early April to early August – including 21 league games in under 3 months. And it quickly caught up with Lazaró’s young team as they went 6 without a win before Henry’s strike edged a 2-1 at home to Cruzeiro. They weren’t alone in struggling as Flamengo were lingering in the relegation zone as the sides faced off in gameweek 15, and Santos dominated by 26 shots to 7 but had Fernando to thank for rescuing a point. Santos kicked on from there, earning narrow wins over Gremio and, strangely, back-to-back games against Bahía. That left them in 5th on 31 points after 19 games, again making the bookies’ relegation tip look very silly.
An exhausted side began the second half of the season with unsurprising defeats to Corinthians and Palmeiras. But they finally got a week off ahead of a home game against struggling Fortaleza, in which they lined up with 7 Santos academy products, and won 2-1 through Fernando and Kevyson. Eight homegrown players then started at home to Goiás and two of them scored again as the rapidly improving Penchel’s first-half double and Victor earned a dominant 3-0 win. But a 7-game winless streak saw Santos slide back down the table to sit 8th going into the final 8 games.
Santos finally got firing with Henry returning from several injuries to score alongside improving attacking midfielder Dimitri’s first senior goal in a 3-0 victory at Cruzeiro. Fernando, in for the injured Henry again, and Jair earned a 2-1 win at relegation-threatened rivals Sao Paulo before Henry’s double downed Cuiabá 4-0. But a tricky conclusion saw them lose at Botafogo and a resurgent Flamengo either side of Penchel scoring twice hm upstaged by two-goal Cortí inspiring a 2-1 win.
But the big news was in Beira-Rio, where promoted Coritiba needed a win at Internacional on the final day to win the title. They went behind after 13 minutes, equalised just after half time and the hosts went down to 10 men after an hour. And in dramatic fashion, in the 95th minute, substitute Daniel Daga scored a title-winning goal – delivering Coritiba’s second-ever title, adding to their previous win in 1985.
Santos again finished 8th with 61 points (2 more than last season) after 17 wins, 10 draws and 11 defeats, scoring 62 and conceding 51. The exciting Henry made it back-to-back Rei do Gol with 20 goals in 29 games and won Revelecao do Brasileirao.
Massive Potential At Santos
Henry again led the way with a new club record 31 goals in 60 games followed by the impressive Penchel with 12 goals in 60 games. Muniain was fantastic with 10 goals and 14 assists before announcing his retirement, Victor scored 9 with 6 assists and full backs Kevyson and Nathan got 17 and 12 assists.
While he’s not really the type of player suited to it, Henry is one of 12 players on our growing Ginga tracker. The exciting Dimitri, who’s been labelled the next Jairzinho, leads the way with a 75 Ginga rating, just 90 short of our target, followed by Fernando (71), Kevyson (69), Victor (67) and Corti (66).
There were plenty more reasons for Santos fans to be excited about the potential at the club. Santos players completed the top 3 in NxGn 2026, with Henry in 1st, Victor in 2nd and Rosado in 3rd. And Henry went on to win the Kopa Trophy ahead of Diao and Endrick. More potential stars graduated from the Santos academy, which was named the 3rd-best in the world only behind City and Barca. The 2026 intake produced 5 players with 5-star potential, led by technical holding midfielder Fernando Santos, along with attacking midfielders Sandro and Alison and full backs Juliano Gama and Marinho.
So it’s clear that Santos have a huge amount of potential coming through the ranks, and that’s been recognised by Europe’s big clubs with the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool showing an interest in Penchel. But Lazaró was keen to keep hold of his young starlets for as long as possible.
Could Santos’ young stars push on a level next season and compete with Brazil’s big boys? Join us next Monday to find out!
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