Born in Salvador, Bahia, Alan Santos began his career at Vitória's youth categories, but joined Santos in a four-year deal on 26 June 2009.[1]
On 30 August Alan Santos made his first-team debut, replacing Emerson in a 2–0 home success over Fluminense.[2] On 8 February 2011 he was loaned to Paulista,[3] but only appeared once for the club.
Alan Santos only played his second match for Peixe on 10 March 2012, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–3 loss at Mogi Mirim.[4] He appeared in four further matches in that year, being sent off in a 3–1 home win over Palmeiras on 1 December.[5]
After Claudinei Oliveira's appointment as first-team manager in 2013, Alan Santos was regularly used during the campaign, appearing in 20 matches (seven starts, 805 minutes of action). He scored his first professional goal on 9 May 2014, netting the second of a 2–1 away win over Princesa do Solimões.
On 8 January 2015 Alan Santos rescinded his link with Santos, and moved to fellow league team Coritiba.[6]
Mexico
In the late 2017, Liga MX club Tigres UANL bought his rights and loaned him to Veracruz for the Clausura 2018 season.[7] After his spell in Veracruz, he was loaned out to Al-Ittihad Kalba until the end of 2018.[8] He went back to Tigres and was again loaned out, this time to Botafogo in his home country for the 2019 season.[9]