Football London

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Richarlison faces an uncertain future at Tottenham Hotspur and Roberto De Zerbi has provided an update on the striker

Tottenham Hotspur boss Roberto De Zerbi admits he does not know what the future holds for Richarlison, who has been looking to leave the club this summer. Richarlison was heavily linked with a move away from Spurs before the transfer window closed last week, and now faces an uncertain future as to what could happen next.

Spurs did not include Richarlison in their 25-man squad for the Premier League this season, meaning the Brazilian cannot play for the club in the top flight this term.

As a result, the 29-year-old has been heavily linked with a return to Brazil, with the country's transfer window closing on Friday evening.

De Zerbi has been asked whether or not Richarlison could leave the club before the weekend, with the Tottenham boss going on to send a cryptic message about the forward's future.

“I don't know. I don't know [if he's going today]. It's not my job,” Richarlison told reporters on Friday.

“All I can say is that I know what the club has done for Richarlison and what Richarlison has done for the club in the last few months.

“He knows, his agent knows, the club knows, better than you. Much better.”

De Zerbi has stated previously that Richarlison had expressed a desire to leave Tottenham during the summer, but no move materialised.

As reported by football.london earlier this week, Richarlison and his camp are believed to be seeking legal advice, which could result in the striker terminating his contract with Tottenham.

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Richarlison was not one of the 17 non-homegrown players selected by Tottenham in the club’s squad for the Premier League, and no changes are permitted to be made until after the conclusion of the January transfer window.

Brazilian club Vasco da Gama have been credited with an interest in signing Richarlison before the country’s transfer window closes on Friday evening.

However, it still remains to be seen whether or not Richarlison will go on to complete a move away from Tottenham before the end of the day.

Richarlison’s most recent appearance for Tottenham came on the opening day defeat to Brentford, but he has not been included in a Premier League matchday squad since.

The forward was named on the bench for the Carabao Cup victory over Charlton Athletic last month, but was an unused substitute.

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Richarlison is set to learn his transfer fate by the close of play on Friday in Brazil with Vasco da Gama desperate to tie up a deal for the Tottenham forward

Friday is decisive for Vasco da Gama's push to sign Richarlison from Tottenham. With the Brazilian transfer window closing within the next 24 hours, Vasco need to reach an agreement with Spurs and the forward to make the signing possible.

But right now, no agreement has been reached and Richarlison is still stuck in limbo, having been left out of Roberto De Zerbi's 25-man squad for the Premier League.

The 29-year-old was desperate to leave before the end of the British transfer window on September 1 with former club Everton eyeing an emotional return, but a move broke down at the 11th hour. Turkish side Trabzonspor also tried to sign him and submitted a £15million bid, but a deal never materialised.

He trained with Tottenham's first-team warm-up before training on Thursday but is now unable to play until at least January following his exclusion from the squad. Due to that, Richarlison has notified Spurs of his decision to take legal action against the club with the Brazilian facing the prospect of training with the Under 21s.

Although Richarlison still has hopes of terminating his contract, Vasco are trying to wrap up a deal before their transfer window closes at 11:59pm (GMT-3). According to Globo.com, Vasco had a opening offer of £8.6m rejected and they remain in contact with Tottenham about getting a deal across the line.

Vasco believe there is room to move forward with Tottenham if they can improve their offer, though they are convinced that Richarlison will NOT be able to rip up his contract on his own.

That gives Vasco less than a day to agree a deal with Tottenham and convince the player to move back to Rio de Janeiro, nine years since leaving capital club Fluminense for Watford.

At this stage, it's believed that Richarlison is not interested in signing a long-term contract in Brazilian football. The initial plan was to remain at Vasco until the end of the Serie A season in December 2026, and then reassess the possibilities of continuing his career in Europe.

During talks, Vasco presented a three-and-a-half year contract offer to Richarlison, but it's understood that he is set to reject that proposal and instead put forward a short-term deal. However, any move for Richarlison would have to be permanent as Tottenham have already reached their limit of six international loans out of the club.

Guglielmo Vicario, Pape Matar Sarr, Radu Dragusin, Souza, Kota Takai and Yang Min-hyeok all went out on loan this summer across Europe. The only exemptions allowed to the rule, under FIFA's regulations, are players aged 21 and under who are also club-trained, which means Mikey Moore's temporary switch to Koln does not count towards their limit.

Richarlison, who was Tottenham's top scorer last season and started their opening match at Brentford in August, has less than 12 months to run on his contract in north London, but the club have the option to add another year on top of that deal he signed back when he arrived in 2022 from Everton.

The Tottenham Hotspur youngster is currently out on loan in the Championship and was just starting get going at his new club

Tottenham striker Mason Melia faces four to six weeks out with a thigh injury, football.london understands.

The highly-rated 18-year-old has just got going on a season-long loan at Championship side Lincoln City. Melia, who made his Republic of Ireland senior debut this summer, had come off the bench in three of Lincoln's previous six matches and started one but is now expected to miss more than a month of action after scan results brought bad news.

There is a big three-week international break coming up which means the Spurs youngster will not miss too many matches for Lincoln, but he is likely to be unavailable for Ireland, who face four matches in the Nations League against Kosovo, Israel, Austria and Israel again.

Melia received his Irish debut earlier this summer before he has even played a competitive match for Tottenham. He arrived at Spurs in January this year after the north London club agreed a deal with St Patrick's Athletic to bring him over once he turned 18, with the transfer worth an initial £1.6million - a record figure for the League of Ireland - with the potential for future add-ons to double it.

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The Lilywhites handed the youngster a long contract until 2031 as they fended off various other top Premier League and European clubs to sign one of the brightest young talents in Irish football.

A back problem and a chest infection slowed down Melia's introduction to Tottenham life, but he was involved with Roberto De Zerbi's first team during the summer and went on the tour to New Zealand and Australia.

He played 98 senior games for St Pat's before arriving at Tottenham, having registered 25 goals and eight assists. Now the teenager will be looking to continue his experience of senior football and show what he can do in the Championship when he returns from this injury.

Tottenham's bizarre goalscorer decisions and how Roberto De Zerbi will fix problems  Football London

Our writers have their say on former Tottenham and Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino called for his former club to be stripped of the Premier League title

Mauricio Pochettino's admission that Chelsea's most recent Premier League title should be given to Tottenham has caused quite a stir. His two former clubs battled it out for domestic silverware during the 2016/17 campaign, with the Blues ultimately coming out on top.

However, a hefty fine and suspended transfer ban were later implemented on Chelsea for violating transfer rules during a seven-year period that included that season. Illicit agent payments and other inaccuracies were self-reported by the new ownership, which was partly why the Premier League's punishment was so lenient.

Nearly a decade on from his old team coming up short, Pochettino has stated that Chelsea should be stripped of the title, with Spurs receiving the accolade from that year.

The Argentine said: "I've said that, that we should win one title, one Premier League. We should have been awarded it. If that was true and that happened, for sure, we deserve to be champions for that year, because we were the second best.

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"We didn't compete with the same rules. It's completely fair to say that we didn't compete before the start of the season with the same card. Maybe with the same rules, if we apply the same things, maybe we could've signed some players that would have made the team better or scored more goals.

"It's not me complaining. It's the truth. If they admitted they broke the rules, the Premier League title was for the second best team.

"We were fighting with this club (who worked) in a completely different way to us. But I think we deserve more. We (should) get the respect for what we were doing. We operated in a different way."

Pochettino's comments have already caused quite the divide, with many believing Chelsea should be punished, but others arguing these matters should be decided on the pitch. With that in mind, football. london's writers have now had their say on whether or not Pochettino is right - and the likelihood of him getting his wish.

Kieran Horn

As a Tottenham fan, it would be extremely easy to agree with everything Pochettino has said. Ultimately, he is right but it would not feel like a proper victory if Tottenham were to be awarded that Premier League title.

Though Morocco are technically African champions, as far as I'm concerned Senegal won that final earlier this year and similar logic should be applied here. Chelsea won it on the pitch and I'm sure many associated with Tottenham wouldn't want that huge success in a boardroom.

However, Chelsea did quite clearly break the rules and gain an unfair advantage which saw Spurs forced to settle for second-place. So, there are certainly grounds for that outcome to be changed, but it really is unlikely to happen or make that much of a difference nearly 10 years later.

Arsenal were in a somewhat similar position until their triumph last May with Manchester City, who have won four of the last five Premier League's, awaiting the outcome of their financial charges case against the Premier League.

Had Chelsea's title been stripped, it sets a precedent that then has to be stuck to if any other teams are found to have broken the rules.

Aaron Morris

Looking at the situation from afar with a completely unbiased view (as a Sunderland fan), I'm almost certain that Pochettino's appeals will fall on deaf ears. That's especially considering the state of the game at present.

Yes, Chelsea were wrong in how they went about their business over that seven-year period, and the signings that they brought in as a result will have certainly gone a long way in clinching the Premier League title. However, clubs are seemingly still agreeing personal terms with players before striking an agreement with clubs in 2026, just doing it in plain sight as opposed to behind closed doors.

The Blues have been handed a transfer embargo - suspended to next year - and a £10million fine as a result of self-reporting 74 breaches under previous ownership. Make no mistake, that's a punishment which doesn't exactly reflect the severity of the club's former wrongdoing, but to call for Chelsea to be stripped of their league title is perhaps a step too far.

In my opinion, Chelsea's transfer embargo should have been made active this summer, to send a message to other clubs that such behaviour will not be tolerated - with the Blues ultimately able to bolster their squad for the next two seasons over the past couple of months to account for next year's inability to do so.

Similarly, with Manchester City still awaiting a verdict on their own 115 charges, it's hard to see a world, in which, officials strip the Cityzens of their haul of Premier League titles and domestic cups - and instead, a potential point deduction, fine and transfer embargo is widely expected for the northern giants - if we ever get a decision…

One thing is for certain, however. The Premier League need to come up with a blanket punishment for any breach of financial rules - whether that be regarding PSR or agent payments, and implement accordingly. My biggest pet peeve is a lack of consistency with regard to punishment for the big six and the rest of the league, and it's something that clearly needs to be resolved with priority.

Scott Trotter

Mauricio Pochettino is bang on. While Chelsea's current hierarchy may not be at fault, that does not mean the Blues did not benefit from past transgressions.

Many will argue that Antonio Conte formed the best team and they deserved their success over the course of the season, but if Chelsea's rule-breaking had no sporting advantage, why did they bother doing it?

Granted, it will not make any fan or player feel like they didn't win the league, and Spurs' fans won't have experienced the joy of lifting the title, so it would be little more than a gesture. But it is a tangible consequence that will be remembered, a fine simply will not.

The Premier League may suggest that such a punishment will prevent people from coming forward in the future, but underhand tactics should not be rewarded. A total of 74 rule breaches is a sign of something symptomatic.

Ben Crawford

Mauricio Pochettino has Chelsea fans' blood boiling—and that alone should be enough of a victory for Tottenham.

His call for retrospective justice carries weight; the recent sanctions for Chelsea's 74 financial breaches—a £10million fine and a suspended transfer ban—hardly feel like punishment. After all, when their previous 'transfer ban' ended in 2020, they simply shelled out £200m in a single summer and won the Champions League months later.

To strip them of their 2016/17 crown would be a nice little one-up, but awarding the title to Spurs wouldn't feel anywhere near as sweet as one might hope. N17 isn't exactly going to be chocka with fans going nuts, celebrating a league title 'won' a decade late. If anything, accepting it would only invite increased mockery.

Decisions to take away accolades in the wake of serious breaches have been made in Italy and France, but two realities remain: Chelsea's punishment, right or wrong, has already been dished out, and stripping titles sets a dangerous precedent.

Manchester City's charges are looming large and heaven knows what chaos could occur if all of their various pieces of silverware were redistributed amongst the 'wronged.'

As much as Tottenham finished as runners-up in 2016/17, it never truly felt like the title was there to be won. Spurs fans should sit satisfied knowing that no matter how loudly those packed into Stamford Bridge sing before games, Arsenal will forever be their greatest rivals.

Matty Hewitt

While I completely agree with Mauricio Pochettino's comments about the Premier League title, I also understand why it's never going to happen. That in itself is one of the major gripes with modern football.

How is it, that we can allow clubs to break Premier League rules and gain a sporting advantage over their competitors, with no meaningful sanctions? A fine here, a telling off there.

They mean nothing in the grand scheme of things and stripping titles would be a sure way of ensuring clubs stay within those financial parameters. We're all still waiting for the outcoming of Manchester City's alleged 115 breaches of Financial Fair Play.

Who knows when we'll hear that outcome, but we need to start seeing stricter sanctions imposed. The Premier League is the richest club in the world, with clubs owned by some of the richest people on the planet.

Slapping them with fines does absolutely nothing to maintain the integrity of the game.