De Zerbi definitively excludes Richarlison from all Tottenham matches

Roberto De Zerbi has shut the door on Richarlison for the entire season at Tottenham. On the eve of the League Cup match against Liverpool, the Italian manager stated that the Brazilian would not be fielded in any competition, including the Carabao Cup, despite his physical fitness.

“For Richarlison, you already know everything, so nothing changes whether it’s the Carabao Cup or the Premier League,” De Zerbi said bluntly in a press conference. An unequivocal stance that marks the end of the Brazilian’s time with Spurs, despite being the club’s top scorer the previous season.

The breakdown occurred during a turbulent summer transfer window. Richarlison saw two transfers fall through — to Everton and Vasco de Gama — due to lack of agreement with his potential future clubs. As a direct consequence, he was not registered on Tottenham’s Premier League squad list.

De Zerbi had already hinted days earlier that the player himself was responsible for the situation. “If I had decided to exclude him from the group myself, I would have regrets. But this decision wasn’t even made by the club. It was him who made this decision on his own,” he explained, clarifying that he had tried repeatedly to convince the striker to stay.

“Richarlison is a good guy, really a good person. I discussed with him many times and spent time trying to convince him to stay. But I know the truth. I know what happened over these past 45 days,” the manager added, without specifying the exact nature of the disagreement.

A former Everton and Fluminense player, Richarlison joined Tottenham in 2022 for approximately 60 million euros. His contractual situation and immediate future remain uncertain, with the January transfer window now representing the next possible exit opportunity.