Tottenham Hotspur only made two permanent sales in the summer 2025 transfer market, sending club legend Son Heung-min off to the Los Angeles sunset and finally shipping off Bryan Gil to Girona and wash away the taste of a decent idea gone horribly wrong. Overall, Spurs struggled to sell and raise more funds, as they could not find a permanent solution for Manor Solomon either, loaning him off to Villarreal instead on transfer deadline day.
Meanwhile, throughout the summer transfer window, the main two players expected to leave Spurs to save money were center midfielder Yves Bissouma and striker Richarlison. Both were even seen as more likely to leave the club than Son, yet they stayed due to an apparent lack of transfer interest after mediocre (at best) 2024/25 seasons.
However, it seems like there was actually more interest in Richarlison than was initially let on. According to a report from ESPN Brasil's Bruno Andrade and Cindy Garcia, Orlando City were actually very interested in signing Richy from Tottenham Hotspur and had even tabled a 40 million euro transfer offer for the Brazilian forward.
It is likely that the main reason for the deal collapsing was Richarlison himself. The 28-year-old rebuffed even bigger offers from Saudi Arabia the previous summer transfer window out of a desire to stay with Tottenham and compete for titles. The move proved wise, as Richarlison and Spurs literally won a major trophy in the form of the Europa League title.
Tottenham could have used the money on a winger
Richarlison is a competitive guy who loves Tottenham despite his poor career at the club thus far, and Thomas Frank saw something in him that also made the new manager want to keep the veteran striker around. While Richarlison shined brightly in the first few games, the light has dimmed significantly since, and, now, Richy isn't any better of an option at striker than Mathys Tel.
Tottenham could have done quite a bit with 40 million euros this summer, potentially parlaying that into a juicier offer for a top Premier League winger with long-term upside like Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo or Manchester City star Savinho.
Instead, Spurs are stuck with another season of wondering if Richarlison will finally be good for them. As of right now, he seems hard to trust, and it is very likely he will end up being behind both Randal Kolo Muani and Dominic Solanke on the striker depth chart when the duo recover from their own injuries.