Roberto De Zerbi has told Richarlison that his exile from Tottenham Hotspur's Premier League squad is a problem entirely of his own making, revealing that the Brazilian striker rejected contract talks at the start of the summer.
Richarlison, who finished last season as Spurs' top scorer with 11 Premier League goals, cannot play in the competition after being omitted from De Zerbi's official 25-man squad on Thursday. He has been training alone, away from the first team, while he waits to find out whether a proposed move to Trabzonspor will go through before Turkey's transfer deadline closes at 10pm on Friday, or whether another move to an overseas market still open for business materialises instead.
"You don't know one important thing," De Zerbi said ahead of Saturday's trip to Nottingham Forest. "At the beginning of pre-season I spoke to Richarlison and asked him if he wanted to extend his contract because I was happy to keep him with us, and he didn't want to."
"So, Richarlison is a good player, yes. He was important last season, yes very important. He's a good guy, yes," De Zerbi continued. "But in the end, I have to stop myself putting pressure on the players if the players show me they want to leave. So, I'm sorry for him but we have to go to another page and work with Dominic Solanke and Omar Marmoush."
Richarlison's Tottenham contract
Richarlison joined Tottenham from Everton for £60million in 2022 and has one year remaining on his current contract, with the option for another year. The 29-year-old Brazil international was a key figure for Spurs last season but has pushed for a move away this summer.
De Zerbi confirmed Spurs did accept an offer for Richarlison, thought to be worth £35million from Everton, as part of a move that would have seen Spurs pay £65million for Iliman Ndiaye to go the other way. Ndiaye instead joined Manchester City.
"We did receive an offer and he didn't accept it," De Zerbi said. "Richarlison decided everything. Not me, not the club. I didn't decide and I was not responsible for this situation.
"If one player says, 'I want to leave, I want to leave, I want to leave' you have to have an offer behind you otherwise what are you doing? The right offer for him I think arrived after the transfer market closed. I don't decide the negotiation or if one player has to leave or to stay. And I am sorry for him because he's a good guy and it's not right if one player doesn't play or can't play."
Trabzonspor's interest in Richarlison only became clear on Wednesday, but at the time of writing the Turkish club had not met Tottenham's asking price for the forward.
Mudryk arrives on loan
After missing out on their other targets, Cody Gakpo, who stayed at Liverpool, and Ndiaye, Tottenham signed Mykhailo Mudryk on loan from Chelsea.
"Not the last minute but the last days," De Zerbi said when asked about the late move for Mudryk. "In that moment, we needed one player on the left wing. We have just Mathys Tel and Mudryk. He wanted to come, he accepted because he has another couple of offers and it is a good solution."
Mudryk is not fit to start but is available from the bench. De Zerbi gave the Ukraine winger his breakthrough at Shakhtar Donetsk before his £89million move to Chelsea, and the Spurs boss hopes to help revive his career after two years out following a doping ban.
"I brought him from the Under 21s and put him in the first team," De Zerbi said. "I gave him the chance to play in the first XI against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu when he was 20 years old.
"It was his first season and a very emotional season, because we were building a great team and when the war started everything finished.
"Then from Shakhtar to Chelsea he paid a big price because different leagues, different countries, a different level of the club with a big, big responsibility because he knew the price Chelsea paid.
"But it's a normal process for a potential top player. Now I think he's 25, he's in the right moment of his career in a top club. It's the right moment for him to show what he can do."
