Richarlison's Transfer Collapse Leaves Him Stranded at Tottenham

Richarlison’s proposed escape route back to Brazil has collapsed, leaving the forward stranded at Tottenham and frozen out of the Premier League picture until at least January.

The Brazil international had been closing in on a move to boyhood club Vasco da Gama, but the deal has fallen apart after he failed to agree personal terms, the Press Association understands. Vasco had reached an agreement with Spurs over a fee on Friday, only for negotiations with the player to break down.

It leaves Richarlison in an awkward limbo. Tottenham had already told the 29-year-old before the English transfer window shut that he was not part of their first-team plans for this season. That stance was underlined last week when he was left out of the club’s 25-man Premier League squad.

A return to Everton was on the table before the September 1 deadline, but that move never materialised. Once the windows in Turkey and Saudi Arabia closed last Friday and Sunday, his options narrowed sharply. With Spurs having already used their six overseas loan slots, a permanent move back to Brazil looked like one of the few realistic exits.

For a moment, Vasco seemed to offer a clean break and a sentimental one at that. Instead, with the Brazilian transfer window set to close on Saturday and no agreement in place, Richarlison is now expected to stay at Tottenham for the first half of the season – unable to play league football.

His situation has become one of the most striking subplots of Tottenham’s early campaign. Roberto De Zerbi started Richarlison in the club’s Premier League opener at Brentford on August 22, but the forward’s name was missing from the squad list submitted later, and the head coach has been blunt about how events unfolded.

Asked on Friday for an update, De Zerbi said: “I don’t know. It’s not my job. What I can say is I know very well what the club has done for Richarlison and I know very well what Richarlison has done for the club in the last month, two months.

“I know, the club knows, he knows, his agent knows. Everyone knows better than you (the media).”

Behind the scenes, Richarlison has reportedly explored whether the final nine months of his Spurs contract could be terminated, a measure of how keen he is to force a resolution. For now, there is none.

He joined Tottenham from Everton in 2022 and hit 11 league goals last season, a crucial contribution in helping the club avoid relegation. That context is not lost on De Zerbi, who insists the forward remains a high-level player, even as their relationship appears to have broken down over the past six weeks.

De Zerbi admitted the story “could have ended better” and repeatedly highlighted Richarlison’s behaviour over the last 45 days as central to the current impasse.

“I’m sorry because I have one player less on the list,” he said. “Richarlison is a good guy, a very good guy. I spoke with him a lot of times and I spent time to convince him to stay, but if you ask me, I know the truth.

“I know what happened in the last month, the last 45 days and it’s clear, but I’m not frustrated.

“If I had decided myself to leave him outside of the squad, I would have regrets, but the decision has not even been taken by the club. It has been a consequence of what I told you already that he has decided by his own.

“I’m sorry because it could be different. Even the end of the story, but a different way, I think.

“It could have been better, or it was much better Richarlison inside of the list, Richarlison happy to stay, maybe to extend his contract, because he is still an important player.

“He was important last season, we can’t forget, but we can’t forget also the last 45 days.”

So Richarlison stays, at least on paper. Not in the Premier League squad, no transfer completed, and with the Brazilian window about to shut, his next move is pushed into the winter. For a striker who once felt central to Tottenham’s survival, the next few months may say everything about where his career goes next.