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The Spurs striker has endured a pretty miserable nine months, but he could still prove to be an intelligent signing
As soon as Richarlison plonked himself down on the bench after being withdrawn partway through Brazil’s 5-1 demolition of Bolivia, the tears starting streaming down his face. His substitution came moments after the Tottenham striker had missed a gilt-edged chance which confirmed his fourth successive scoreless appearance for the Selecao – a streak that was extended to five after he again drew a blank against Peru on Tuesday.
The reason for Richarlison’s emotion seemed obvious. Since arriving at Spurs from Everton for £50 million ($62m) last summer, he has struggled to nail down a starting spot in north London, but his trips away with Brazil have always been a safe space. They love Richarlison in his homeland and his place in the starting XI has rarely been in doubt.
Until now, that is. In the wake of the Bolivia match, the doyen of Brazilian sports writing Juca Kfouri stated: “It is not a reason for drama, but when Vinicius Junior returns, and with how well Rodrygo is playing, Richarlison should be happy if he’s even on the bench.”
However, as the player later explained, his tears were not caused by the threat to his place in the first team. Instead they came as a result of off-field problems that have been causing him significant distress in recent times.
Mental struggles
“I went through a turbulent time in the last five months off the field,” he explained after the game. “Now things are right at home. People who only had an eye on my money walked away from me. Now things will start to flow, I’m sure I’ll get a good run at Tottenham and make things happen again.
“That sad moment wasn’t even because I played poorly [against Bolivia], in my opinion, I didn’t play a bad game in Belem, it was more of an outburst about the things that were happening off the field, which got out of control not on my part, but on the part of people who were close to me.
“I’m going to go back to England, to seek psychological help, from a psychologist, to work on my mind. That’s it, come back stronger. I believe I will be in the next squad, I will work for that. It’s about getting a good streak at Tottenham, this week I’m going to sit down and talk to them, I need a good streak, get the rhythm of the game.”
Richarlison’s revelation goes a long way to explaining why he’s failed to live up to his potential over the past half a year or so. To understand why there has been such disappointment in his recent form, it’s worth revisiting why Tottenham were convinced to part with such a substantial fee to secure his services in July 2022.
Growing up in extremely humble surroundings in eastern Brazil, Fluminense snapped up the young attacker on a five-year deal in 2015. Despite still being a teenager, he soon became one of their star players and attracted Premier League attention.
Watford spent around £11m ($14m) on him in 2017 and after an impressive debut season in England, Marco Silva – who had brought him to Vicarage Road – pushed Everton to sign Richarlison for an initial fee of £35m ($44m).
He immediately proved to be an inspired signing, energising the Goodison Park faithful with his warrior mentality, devastating physical profile and excellent finishing. Richarlison plundered 13 goals in each of his first two Premier League seasons, a feat made more impressive when you consider that Everton became increasingly dysfunctional after securing an eighth-placed finish in 2019.
During his final season with the Toffees, he was pivotal in helping the club avoid relegation – and stave off the potentially-lethal financial effects that would have followed. During a tense run-in, he netted the winner in a priceless victory over Chelsea, as well as scoring an equally-important equaliser in Everton’s famous comeback win against Crystal Palace.
The blue half of Merseyside was understandably upset to see him depart. Among the younger generation of Evertonians that have been starved of success, no player had been as beloved as the Brazilian due to his work rate, match-winning displays and infectious passion.
A decent start in north London
Everton’s loss was Tottenham’s gain, and the perception that Richarlison’s time at Spurs has been a complete failure ignores the fact that he actually made a fairly promising start to life at his new club.
No one was expecting him to displace Harry Kane, Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-min from the outset, and so it proved. Yet, when he was handed a chance to impress, he looked lively.
Not only did he record three Premier League assists in just three starts prior to the World Cup, he also netted a match-winning brace against Marseille in the Champions League group stages. If not for a calf injury sustained against former club Everton, these numbers would have likely been higher too.
Antonio Conte was certainly happy enough, saying after that Marseille game: “We signed Richi to exploit the best work of this team and to try to support the three strikers.
“When you have Sonny, Harry Kane and Deki [Kulusevski] last season, behind a player like Lucas who is now injured and a big problem for us, we tried to sign a player that was able to play in all of these three positions. For this reason we had no doubts to sign him. For us this is very important because for sure when you make a change you don’t drop drop the quality in attack.”
Brazil’s most popular player
That calf injury nearly prevented Richarlison’s involvement in the World Cup, but he recovered in time to lead the line for the Selecao in Qatar. He made an immediate impact in his side’s group-stage opener against Serbia, grabbing a superb brace.
His first was a typical poacher’s finish, but his second was Richarlison at his absolute best. Latching onto Vinicius Junior’s slightly aimless cross, his first touch took the ball high into the air and, with his second, he produced an unstoppable bicycle kick that flew past Serbian goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic. The strike was rightly awarded the goal of the tournament.
In the round of 16 against South Korea, Richarlison scored again as Brazil turned on the samba style in an emphatic 4-1 victory. He celebrated by making the usually-stoney-faced Tite perform his trademark ‘pigeon dance’ – a joyous moment that cemented his place in the hearts of those back home.
Although Brazil would crash out of the competition on penalties to Croatia in the quarter-finals, on a personal level, the World Cup was the highlight of Richarlison’s career so far. In a star-studded team, Brazilian fans focussed their devotion on him more than any other player during those few weeks in Qatar.
The tireless charity work Richarlison conducts, fuelled by his fiery social conscience, has only acted to further solidify his popularity across his homeland.
Richarlison’s confidence would have been sky high when he returned from Qatar, which makes him limping through the remainder of Tottenham’s season without making an impact all the more surprising.
He would not start a Premier League game again until Spurs took on West Ham in the middle of February – and even then he only lasted 68 minutes. His lack of a Premier League goal became increasingly difficult to ignore, while Richarlison was likely getting extremely irritated that Son would not vacate his favoured left-forward position – despite performing dreadfully for an extended period.
Things came to a head in the wake of Tottenham’s Champions League exit at the hands of AC Milan. After two decent Carabao Cup displays, Richarlison claimed he was promised a start in the second leg against the Rossoneri, only for Conte to name him on the bench.
After the Milan match, he aired his frustrations to the media, telling TNT Sports Brazil: “There hasn’t been enough minutes given to me, this season – and forgive my language – has been sh*t. I don’t have enough minutes, was injured for a bit, but when I’m on the pitch I give my life. I played well in two games, especially against Chelsea, so I think I should have played last night, but I can’t go on crying about it now.”
Conte offered little support publicly in his next press conference, retorting: “He said, ‘My season is sh*t’, and he’s right.” Ouch.
Richarlison was at least given a chance to prove himself against Nottingham Forest the following week. And inside the opening three minutes he thought he’d scored the perfect goal to silence his manager, racing onto Oliver Skipp’s through ball and thrashing it into the top corner. But VAR intervened, ruling the goal out for offside, summing up his poor fortune.
Even when he did finally break his Premier League scoring duck, the footballing gods were in no mood to humour the Brazilian. Richarlison thought he had earned his side a point against Liverpool at the death with a glancing header and he celebrated with the requisite flamboyance, whipping off his shirt and ‘shushing’ the Anfield crowd. Seconds later, Spurs compounded to lose the game, with Lucas Moura’s error allowing Diogo Jota to sneak behind their defence and grab a winner.
It’s rare that a player’s season can be distilled into a single moment so perfectly, and Richarlison would end the campaign with just three goals and four assists from 35 games in all competitions.
The numbers are damning, but it’s worth pointing out that the majority of his minutes came in an unfamiliar right-forward position where he was required to hold his shape out wide. The man he failed to permanently displace in this role, Kulusevski, did not fare much better either, finishing the season with two goals and seven assists through 37 appearances.
Mixed fortunes under Big Ange
The arrival of Ange Postecoglou in the summer offered Spurs’ squad a chance at a fresh start. And, for Richarlison specifically, Kane’s long-expected departure to Bayern Munich seemingly opened up a position at the club’s new No.9.
As expected, the Brazilian led the line against Brentford on the opening day and continued up front for his side’s next two Premier League fixtures against Manchester United and Bournemouth. This extended run of starts taught us that Richarlison is going to need some time to adjust to his new role.
Anyone playing up front for Postecoglou can’t expect to see too much of the ball. The No.9’s main responsibilities in this system is to lead the press, open up space with diagonal runs and finish off chances when they’re presented. Indeed, in each of these three games Richarlison registered the least amount of touches and carries of any Spurs starter.
However, it’s clear that Richarlison hasn’t quite got to grips with what is expected of him yet, with the Brazilian perhaps the only member of Spurs’ squad who was not immediately improved since the Australian coach joined.
Man Utd was a low point
Take Spurs’ victory over United. For most of a Tottenham persuasion this was one of the most satisfying days in the club’s recent history. Yet, Richarlison was hauled off after 69 minutes, having failed to register a single attempt on goal. He looked visibly frustrated as he aired his annoyance to Emerson Royal on the substitutes bench.
He did clarify his body language after the game, strongly denying any of this negative energy was directed at Postecoglou. “It was more with myself, because I didn’t get any ball there to shoot,” he told ESPN Brazil of his reaction to being subbed.
Even still, it wasn’t a great look which threatened to take the shine off an excellent day for Spurs.
It’s not all been bad, though. He finished off Ivan Perisic’s cross at the back post expertly against Fulham in the Carabao Cup – although his side would go on to lose the second-round tie on penalties.
That strike was not enough to preserve his place in the first team for Spurs’ trip to Burnley a few days later. And it would have been difficult for Richarlison to witness Son net a hat trick and Manor Solomon perform well, while he could on watch on from the bench.
His mood would not have been raised by those aforementioned struggles in the most recent Brazilian camp. Not only did he underwhelm in the Bolivia rout, he also frustratingly saw a goal ruled out against Peru for offside following a lengthy VAR check.
Yet, despite his poor form for the Selecao, it was notable that those Brazil fans in attendance at each game were still cheering him as he exited the pitch.
After the Bolivia match, he also received public support from his team-mates. Marquinhos said: “I’ve seen players go through ups and downs a lot. Football is very fast, both for good and for bad. That’s what we try to convey to him. He sits at the table next to us and we talk a lot. We already see him much lighter and calmer than he was after the game.”
For Richarlison to get back to his best, it’s clear he is going to need a similar level of support when he returns to Tottenham. Previous manager Conte has plenty of strengths as a coach, but interpersonal skills is not one of them. It’s little surprise that a character as complex and emotional as Richarlison endured a frosty relationship with the Italian.
Thankfully for the 26 year old, Postecoglou is cut from a different cloth. The affable Aussie has earned plenty of praise for his media-handling style since taking over in the capital and his players have also spoken warmly about him, while simultaneously slipping in a few digs at Conte.
Kulusevski, one of the Italian’s most trusted lieutenants recently said: “We had a tough time at the end of last season. [Postecoglou] has come in with really positive energy and it has gone very quickly. Of course, we are all a little surprised. But he’s really good.”
It’s exactly this sort of arm-around-the-shoulder management style that Richarlison has thrived under during his career so far. In an interview with The Athletic, his manager at Fluminense, Abel Braga, recalled an incident when the striker agitated for a move to rivals Palmeiras – only for the deal to fall through.
The fans were furious, as was Braga most likely, but when Richarlison came into his office in tears, the coach was convinced to defend him publicly. Soon after, he was back banging them in for Fluminense.
“People criticise Brazilian coaches a lot, but there is one real strength here,” Braga said. “We really try to understand each individual on a social level, on a cultural level, and so on. Some players need you to be a father figure. Others will only react if you shout at them. (Antonio) Conte didn’t seem to understand that. He’s the kind of coach who barely speaks to a player during a whole season.”
Richarlison is not satisfied with himself
Postecoglou is perfectly suited to adopting a similar, fatherly approach to Richarlison’s current situation. And, once the Spurs boss can get his head in the right place, he will start to reap the benefits of possessing a player that has had no problem hitting double-figure Premier League goal tallies in the past.
Richarlison certainly thinks he has more to give too, telling ESPN Brazil recently: “During the training I have been scoring goals, I think it is a matter of time for the goals. I think the fans have to be a little patient, it is not easy to replace an idol like Harry Kane.
“Like it or not, a match in which I don’t score a goal, they are going to miss him, he is a guy who scored more than 200 goals for the club. It is taking that as an example and trying to score as many goals as possible in a Tottenham shirt.
“For sure, that is why Tottenham paid dearly for me. That is why they put me here, now it is up to me, I have to do the job, I know my responsibility.”
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