Richarlison joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2022 when Antonio Conte was the club's manager, with the Italian giving his verdict on the club
Former Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has given a brutal verdict on some of the club’s past signings, including Richarlison. The former Spurs manager also made his feelings clear on the club following his departure back in 2023.
Richarlison’s future at Spurs has been the subject of intense speculation over the last few weeks, particularly in the closing days of the summer transfer window.
The Brazilian looked set to leave Tottenham before the September 1 deadline, after he was left out of the club’s 25-man Premier League squad.
The 29-year-old is now unable to feature for Tottenham in the Premier League until after the January transfer window, at the earliest, but only if he is reinstated to the club’s officially submitted squad list.
After Tottenham were knocked out of the Carabao Cup last month by Liverpool, the earliest opportunity for Richarlison to feature for the club again will be in the FA Cup third round in January.
Richarlison was linked with a move to Brazil after the English transfer window closed, but no deal materialised, and it now remains to be seen what the future holds for the forward.
Conte has given an interview with The Athletic, where he spoke about his time at Tottenham, and also gave his verdict on some of the club’s signings, including Richarlison.
The Italian, who spent 16 months in charge of Spurs, is quoted as describing Richarlison and other players signing by the club as “run of the mill”, and went on to explain why his mindset did not suit the club.
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“I went to Tottenham with the ambition to turn things round a bit,” Conte reflects. “Partly because [Fabio] Paratici was there. When I arrived, they were ninth. We finished fourth, overtaking Arsenal.”
“I remember we weren’t winning or we’d drawn a game and I sent (then chairman) Daniel Levy a message. He came back to me, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll win the next one’.”
He added: “‘What the…?’ I kept saying to him, ‘Look!’”
“The thing that drove me mad was hearing people around me saying, ‘Tottenham are never going to win anything’. That they’re losers.”
Conte went on: “They were made fun of. They’re still being made fun of. Even now. Arsenal lost 3-0 to Brighton and they were joking, ‘Arsenal have turned into Tottenham’, get it? Believe me, this irritated me a lot.”