Football Season Guide

Santos has been one of the few teams to open the chequebook in the off-season, bringing in players for transfer fees rather than simply targeting loan deals and free agents. They are able to do that given the huge payday they enjoyed when Gabriel Barbosa was sold to Inter Milan last summer and they have now spent some of that money on Bruno Henrique, Cleber Reis and Vladimir Hernández as they look to go one better than their second place finish of last season. Although Santos did finish as runners-up last season, it should be remembered that they did not at any point look like challenging for the title and they only finished ahead of third placed Flamengo because Flamengo gave up on the season in the final few weeks. Santos do, therefore, still have a long way to go if they are to seriously challenge for the title and their performances in the off-season have not been particularly encouraging. They were knocked out of the Paulista State Championship at the quarter-final stage and their Copa Libertadores performances have also been subject of plenty of criticism. It is perplexing given how talented their squad is – as well as their new additions, they retained of Lucas Lima, David Braz, Ricardo Oliveira and Thiago Maia – but there are rumours of tension between the players and the board, while salary delays have also reported to be an issue. There are also believed to be cliques within the squad and a lack of team chemistry so coach Dorival Junior has plenty to sort out if he is to lead this Galactico squad to the top. The Galactico nature of the squad also means that Santos should expect to suffer whenever an international break comes around.