Tottenham Hotspur will be without Pedro Porro and Sandro Tonali when they travel to Liverpool for their Carabao Cup third round game on Tuesday night, while head coach Roberto De Zerbi will not be recalling Richarlison for the tie.
Porro is still missing with the muscular issue which ruled him out of Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Everton, while record signing Tonali, who started the game, picked up a knock and will not be available.
But there was better news for Destiny Udogie, with the Italy left-back available again having missed the draw with the Merseyside club. Meanwhile, De Zerbi added that Dominic Solanke is “not fit yet” but will be involved on Tuesday night as he builds up his fitness and rhythm.
Solanke had a difficult season with injuries last year but De Zerbi spoke with him on Monday morning and believes he can get back to his best.
“I would like to manage him in the best way I can,” the Italian said. “In the physical aspect and in mental aspect, because he’s a sensitive guy, he needs to feel full confidence and from myself he has big, big confidence.
“I believe he can score 10 to 15 goals for sure. He has already scored in Bournemouth and so why can’t he score in Tottenham. It’s the same sport, a different stadium, but no pressure, because in our stadium if we push, if we play well, the fans are with us.”
De Zerbi will not be bringing back Richarlison for the trip to Anfield, even though the Brazil international would technically be eligible because the game is not in the Premier League. Richarlison was not included on Spurs’ 25-man Premier League list, but still has not been able to find a move away from the club.
“You already know everything,” De Zerbi said, when asked about Richarlison’s potential involvement in his press conference on Monday afternoon. “Nothing changed for the Carabao Cup or Premier League. The situation is the same.”
De Zerbi re-iterated that he had proposed a new contract for Richarlison at the start of the window but that after that there was nothing else he could do.
“I can’t say anything more because it’s not my job,” De Zerbi said. “I can answer about the results, the players in the squad, the offensive space, the defensive space, but not for the other things. What I’ve done, at the beginning of this season, was to speak with him, and to propose an extension of the contract. If he said no thank you, I have finished my job.”
De Zerbi reiterated that it was not his job to “pray” for Richarlison to stay after he had already made up his mind to leave.
“I said in the last press conference, I know what happened in the last 45 days,” he said.
“It’s not right if I explained. It’s not my behaviour, it is the relationship and the problem is with [between] the player and the club. And I stay inside of the club. It’s coach and club together because at the start of this season, I spoke with him many times to convince him to stay and he didn’t want to. I can’t go every day to pray for him to stay.”