Richarlison's Transfer Collapse Leaves Him in Limbo at Tottenham
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 in talks over a move to boyhood club Vasco da Gama, but the deal has broken down after he failed to agree personal terms, the Press Association understands. Vasco had reached an agreement with Spurs over a fee on Friday, only for negotiations with the player to stall.
From starter to outcast
Richarlison actually began the season on the pitch. Roberto De Zerbi started him in Tottenham’s league opener at Brentford on August 22, a sign at the time that he still had a role to play.
Behind the scenes, the picture was very different.
Tottenham had already informed the 29-year-old before the English transfer window closed that he was not part of their first-team plans for this season. When a deadline-day return to former club Everton failed to materialise on September 1, his options rapidly narrowed.
Last week came the decisive blow: Richarlison was left out of Spurs’ 25-man Premier League squad. From there, his future became a scramble.
With the windows in Turkey and Saudi Arabia shutting on Friday and Sunday respectively, a permanent move back to Brazil emerged as one of the few realistic escape routes. Spurs had already filled their six overseas loan slots, ruling out another temporary switch abroad.
Vasco stepped in. The club that helped launch his career looked ready to offer a way home. The fee was agreed. The door was open. Richarlison did not walk through it.
De Zerbi: “He decided everything alone”
Speaking on Friday, De Zerbi was clear about where he felt responsibility lay for the current stand-off.
Asked for an update on Richarlison, the Tottenham 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.”
De Zerbi had already suggested that Richarlison’s absence from the Premier League squad was self-inflicted, claiming the forward “decided everything alone” after being left off the list.
Behind the scenes, Richarlison has reportedly explored whether the final nine months of his contract could be terminated, a drastic step that underlines how fractured the situation has become.
A story that “could have been better”
For all the tension, De Zerbi still spoke with a hint of regret.
“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.”
Richarlison joined Tottenham from Everton in 2022 and scored 11 league goals last season, a crucial contribution in keeping the club in the top flight. Now, with the Brazilian transfer window closing on Saturday and no agreement with Vasco, he is expected to remain at Spurs for the first half of the season — unable to play in the Premier League, stuck on the outside, waiting for January to offer a way out.
