Star earning $189k a week to not play as coach refuses to pick him
Roberto De Zerbi is exploring all avenues to get Tottenham Hotspur back to their winning ways, but he is doing so with a $66 million player on the sidelines.
Tottenham’s dire start to the season continued on Wednesday (AEST) when they were eliminated from the Carabao Cup in a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.
Richarlison seen during warm-up against Charlton Athletic. Shaun Brooks
The result means Spurs have only won two games since leaving Australian soil in August, having defeated Chelsea 2-1 in a pre-season friendly in Sydney.
One of those wins was a pre-season friendly against Bundesliga side Hoffenheim. The other was a 5-1 win over Charlton, an English Championship team, in the second round of the Carabao Cup.
While Richarlison has played a key role in Spurs’ success over the years and he did feature in the pre-season match, he has not played in any regular season games.
De Zerbi made clear before the season began that any player who was not happy representing Spurs “had to leave” in the transfer window.
Richarlison was one of those who wanted to leave the club, but despite talking with several top-flight teams like Everton, who offered a $66m transfer deal for his services, Brazil’s Vasco da Gama and Turkey’s Trabzonspor, he was unable to get a transfer deal done.
Spurs did not play a role in blocking Richarlison’s move to any of those teams, rather it was personal terms that made those deals fall through.
His failure to find a new home has left him with seemingly no way to play football until January, having missed out on selection in the side’s 25-man Premier League squad at the season’s start and not being named in Spurs’ Carabao Cup team.
Much to Richarlison’s disappointment, any player over 21 that is not named in the 25-man Premier League team at the season’s start cannot play in the competition.
That means his only chance to play is when Spurs start their FA Cup in January, but De Zerbi has been clear that he has no intentions to play him at all.
“Richarlison, you already know everything and nothing change for Carabao Cup or Premier League. The situation is the same,” De Zerbi told reporters this week.
“I know what happened in the last 45 days. It’s not right if I explained. It’s not my behaviour. The relationship, the problem is between the player and the club.
“I stay within the club. It’s coach and club together. At the start of this season I spoke to him many times to convince him to stay and he didn’t want to. I can’t go every day to pray for him to stay.
“Richarlison will not play even if he’s available.”
Richarlison reacts during a Premier League match last season. Getty
The Brazilian star responded to a post quoting De Zerbi’s words about him on Instagram on Tuesday, simply writing “why?” with a crying face.
Richarlison was effectively replaced by the attacking flare of new signings Omar Marmoush and Savio from Manchester City, even though he ended last season as the club’s top goalscorer with 11 goals in 32 appearances.
Richarlison is being paid around $189,000 per week to play no football for Spurs.
The club agreed to a deal worth $113m him from Everton in 2022. He has nine months remaining on that five-year contract.
Tottenham currently sits 17th on the Premier League table, with their next game against Aston Villa scheduled to take place on Saturday at 9.30pm (AEST).
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