Richarlison’s downward spiral at Tottenham was laid bare as he scored for the club’s under-21 side in the EFL Trophy against Cheltenham Town, in front of a couple of hundred supporters.
The Brazilian, who cost Spurs £60m from Everton and was rubbing shoulders with Neymar Jr and Vinicius Jr on international duty not so long ago, looked almost embarrassed to celebrate his thumping half-volley against the League Two outfit. He also notched a penalty in a shootout that Spurs’ reserves lost 7-6 after a 2-2 draw. It was only his second appearance of the season, and his first since the end of August against Brentford, having been left out of Tottenham’s Premier League squad.
That omission came in September, when manager Roberto de Zerbi insisted the decision to leave Richarlison out of the club’s 25-man squad was not his, following the forward’s failed move back to Merseyside at the end of the transfer window.
“He decided everything alone,” De Zerbi said. “He spoke with me at the beginning of the pre-season and told me his idea and desire was to leave. At the end we go to bring another striker in and, like I said at the beginning of the pre-season, I want to keep the players, just the players that want to stay and be proud and with the right passion to stay here. Then for everything and other problems, it is not my business and not my job. It is the responsibility of the club. I can’t say nothing because I didn’t decide anything. The message of Richarlison from the beginning of the season has been very clear. I accepted that and for me there is nothing to say.”
For a couple of hours on transfer deadline day, it seemed only a matter of time before Richarlison left Tottenham. He was closing in on an idyllic return to Everton, more than four years after swapping Merseyside for North London, but after expressing his desire to depart, the proposed move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium fell through, leaving both the player and club with few alternatives at such a late stage of the summer window. Later that month, a proposed move to Brazilian side Vasco da Gama also collapsed after Richarlison failed to agree personal terms. He was ruled out of Spurs’ Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool last month, with only players registered in their club’s respective league squad eligible to feature in the competition, and the EFL Trophy’s group stage now offers him a rare opportunity to gain competitive minutes before January.
The awkwardness of the situation is heightened by Tottenham’s problems at the other end of the pitch. Just six games into the new Premier League season, Spurs have scored only three goals, making them the top flight’s lowest scorers, and sit second bottom of the table. Dominic Solanke’s late equaliser against Manchester United on Saturday was the first Premier League goal from a Tottenham forward since Richarlison netted against Chelsea back in May, and after that goal rescued a point at Old Trafford despite Spurs being reduced to 10 men, De Zerbi was pleased with Solanke’s performance and contribution. The forward’s wider record has still drawn scrutiny: former England striker Alan Shearer questioned his quality on Match of the Day, describing him as “nowhere near good enough”, with the 29-year-old having scored just 13 league goals since joining from Bournemouth in a £55m deal two years ago. Tottenham’s failure to score in their first four Premier League games this term prompted supporters inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to hold banners begging the Europa League winners to find the net, and the club spent £300m on new recruits over the summer.
Against that backdrop, the decision to leave out last season’s leading league scorer looks increasingly difficult to justify. Since arriving from Everton, Richarlison has scored 27 top-flight goals in 103 appearances, and last season he was Tottenham’s leading scorer in the competition with 11 goals in 32 appearances as they narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship. He might not provide the answer to all of his side’s problems, but his inclusion in the Premier League squad would surely have been more beneficial than allowing him to trudge around the pitches of England’s lower-tier clubs and show his scoring prowess in front of sparse crowds.