Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of offloading Richarlison to free up a move for Yoane Wissa have been dealt a significant blow, sources have told Football Insider.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, senior correspondent Pete O’Rourke revealed what his sources have said about Tottenham’s attempts to sign the Brentford striker.
Wissa went on strike at Brentford and refused to train in a bid to force a move away from the Gtech Community Stadium this summer, with both Spurs and Newcastle linked with moves for the 28-year-old.
Football Insider revealed last month that Thomas Frank wanted to reunite with Wissa at Tottenham after his own move to North London, and this raised speculation that Richarlison could depart as a result.
However, sources have told Football Insider that the prospect of Richarlison being sold to Crystal Palace to free up a move for Wissa is “very unlikely”, particularly after the Brazilian’s strong start to the season.
Richarlison had been mooted as a potential makeweight in Spurs’ bid to sign Eberechi Eze, but Football Insider sources have said the 28-year-old wouldn’t want to swap Tottenham for Palace this summer.
Eze has since been confirmed as an Arsenal player after they hijacked Tottenham’s move for the England playmaker, and this leaves Newcastle as clear front-runners in the race to sign Wissa from Brentford.
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Tottenham toil in Wissa race after Richarlison, Eze blows
Football Insider revealed on 22 August that bids of £50million could be enough to prize Wissa out of Brentford, but it’s unclear if Tottenham would commit such an amount to signing a 28-year-old striker.
Speaking on the new Inside Track podcast, O’Rourke stated that Richarlison, having scored two goals in Spurs’ opening-day victory over Burnley, is in no mood to swap North London for Palace anytime soon.
“Wissa’s made it pretty clear that he wants to make a move away from Brentford”, he told Football Insider.
“The Tottenham link is interesting, with suggestions that Richarlison could’ve been offered to Crystal Palace as part of their Eze deal, to free up room in the squad for Tottenham to make a move for Wissa.
“That would be very unlikely – Richarlison’s had a good start to the season with Tottenham, I don’t imagine he would be overly keen on a move to Crystal Palace.
“I’d still make Newcastle favourites for Wissa, and they will come back with a new offer, hoping they can reach a compromise with Brentford to finally get a deal done.”
Tottenham face transfer turmoil after successive setbacks
Eze heading to Arsenal rather than Tottenham is the biggest blow yet for Frank and Daniel Levy, with a leading transfer target plucked from under their noses by their arch-rivals after 10 days of negotiations.
Furthermore, after trying and failing with a move for Morgan Gibbs-White at Nottingham Forest, Premier League clubs are well aware that Spurs have a lump sum of £60million burning a hole in their pockets.