Richarlison's Transfer to Brazil Falls Through
Richarlison’s proposed return to Brazil has collapsed, leaving the forward in limbo at Tottenham and frozen out of the Premier League squad until at least January.
The Brazil international had been close to a move to boyhood club Vasco da Gama, with the clubs agreeing a fee on Friday, but he failed to reach agreement on personal terms, the Press Association understands. With the Brazilian transfer window due to close on Saturday, the deal is now off and Richarlison is expected to stay at Spurs for the first half of the season – despite being ineligible to play league football.
From starter to outcast
The contrast could hardly be sharper. Roberto De Zerbi started Richarlison in Tottenham’s Premier League opener at Brentford on August 22. Within weeks, the 29-year-old found himself omitted from the club’s 25-man squad and effectively pushed to the margins.
Tottenham had already made their position clear before the English window shut: Richarlison was not part of the first-team plans this season. A return to Everton was explored but never completed before the September 1 deadline. Once that avenue closed, his options narrowed quickly.
With the transfer windows in Turkey and Saudi Arabia shutting last Friday and Sunday respectively, a permanent move back to Brazil emerged as one of the few realistic routes out. Spurs had already filled their six overseas loan slots, ruling out another temporary switch abroad.
Vasco stepped forward. The fee was agreed. The escape route looked open.
Then it wasn’t.
Personal terms proved the stumbling block, and with the clock ticking on Brazil’s window, the move fell apart.
De Zerbi: “He decided everything alone”
De Zerbi has been careful not to lay out every detail in public, but he has been blunt about where he feels responsibility lies.
Asked for an update on Friday, the head coach said: “I don’t know. It’s not my job. What I can say is I know very well what the club has done for Richarlison and I know very well what Richarlison has done for the club in the last month, two months.
“I know, the club knows, he knows, his agent knows. Everyone knows better than you (the media).”
The Italian had already pointed to the striker’s own choices when explaining his omission from the squad list, saying last week that Richarlison had “decided everything alone”.
Behind the scenes, the situation has been just as tense. Richarlison was reportedly exploring whether the final nine months of his contract could be terminated, a drastic step that underlined how fractured the relationship had become.
An important player, a messy ending
Richarlison joined Tottenham from Everton in 2022 and scored 11 league goals last season, a vital contribution as Spurs avoided relegation. De Zerbi has not forgotten that.
“I’m sorry because I have one player less on the list,” he said. “Richarlison is a good guy, a very good guy. I spoke with him a lot of times and I spent time to convince him to stay, but if you ask me, I know the truth.
“I know what happened in the last month, the last 45 days and it’s clear, but I’m not frustrated.
“If I had decided myself to leave him outside of the squad, I would have regrets, but the decision has not even been taken by the club. It has been a consequence of what I told you already that he has decided by his own.
“I’m sorry because it could be different. Even the end of the story, but a different way, I think.
“It could have been better, or it was much better Richarlison inside of the list, Richarlison happy to stay, maybe to extend his contract, because he is still an important player.
“He was important last season, we can’t forget, but we can’t forget also the last 45 days.”
For now, the outcome is stark. Richarlison remains a Tottenham player, unable to feature in the Premier League, his future on hold until the January window reopens and someone, somewhere, is prepared to restart a career that has stalled in brutal fashion.
