Gabigol ends Santos' No 9 crisis: here's the situation 💡
Article excerpt
Gabigol has stepped into Santos' No. 9 role and solved a critical offensive problem for the Brazilian club during the first half of the season. The striker, who had previously lost his leading role, has regained prominence as scouts and directors across the league assess the campaign's first stretch ahead of the World Cup break. His resurgence addresses what had been a glaring weakness in Santos' attack, making him a centerpiece of the club's second-half strategy.
Gabigol ends Santos' No 9 crisis: here's the situation 💡
At this break for the World Cup, directors and scouts are taking stock of the first half of the season.
In Santos' case, the standout has been Gabigol, who has regained the leading role he had lost in recent years.
In addition, the forward has solved a problem that had been "haunting" the club since Marcos Leonardo's departure at the end of 2023: the lack of a number 9 capable of leading the team's scoring charts.
With 27 appearances for Santos in 2026, while on loan from Cruzeiro, Gabigol has provided seven assists and found the back of the net 14 times.
By comparison, the 29-year-old forward scored 13 goals and provided four assists in 49 matches for Raposa.
Guilherme, Peixe's top scorer in 2025, also had 14 goals, but in nearly twice as many games as Gabigol over the course of the season.
Between 2024 and 2025, precisely the "post-Marcos Leonardo" period, Santos had more than 10 players wearing the number 9 shirt, but none managed to score more than 10 goals in a season.
As a result, in addition to confirming the return of both his good form and a true old-school number 9 at Santos, Gabriel Barbosa is closing in on 100 goals for the club (he reached 98 against Vitória).
Gabigol is Santos' third-highest scorer in the 21st century, behind only Robinho (111 goals) and Neymar (156 goals).
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.