A year ago, Richarlison was scoring crucial goals for Tottenham.
Now he cannot play for them in the Premier League.
That is how quickly his situation in North London has collapsed.
Tottenham officially submitted their 25-man senior squad for the 2026/27 Premier League season without Richarlison, confirming that Roberto De Zerbi will have to navigate at least the first half of the campaign without the Brazilian striker in league competition.
It is a remarkable fall for a player who finished last season as Tottenham’s leading scorer.
Richarlison made 43 appearances in 2025/26 and scored 12 goals in all competitions, including 11 in the Premier League, according to Spurs’ own player profile. He also played an important part in the club’s 2025 Europa League triumph.
Yet only a few months later, he finds himself outside the squad.
The question is no longer whether Richarlison remains one of Tottenham’s most experienced forwards.
It is whether he has already played his final meaningful match for the club.
Richarlison’s Tottenham Situation at a Glance
| Detail | Situation |
|---|---|
| Age | 29 |
| Joined Tottenham | July 2022 |
| Contract | Until June 2027 |
| 2025/26 Record | 43 appearances, 12 goals |
| Premier League Goals 2025/26 | 11 |
| 2026/27 PL Squad | Not registered |
| Manager | Roberto De Zerbi |
| Summer Situation | Richarlison wanted to leave |
| Reported Interest | Everton, Trabzonspor, Vasco da Gama |
| Immediate Outlook | Unable to play Premier League football unless registration circumstances change in a later window |
Tottenham originally signed Richarlison from Everton in 2022 on a contract running until 2027.
That makes the current situation particularly significant.
This is not simply a player temporarily out of form.
It is a 29-year-old international forward entering the final year of his deal while effectively separated from one of the competitions that matters most to his career.
The Squad Omission Is Official
Transfer rumours can be exaggerated.
Squad lists cannot.
Tottenham published their Premier League squad on September 3.
Richarlison was not there.
The 25 senior players included Dominic Solanke, Omar Marmoush, Mohammed Kudus, Sávio, Xavi Simons, Dejan Kulusevski and Wilson Odobert among Spurs’ attacking options.
Richarlison was excluded entirely.
For an established senior player, that is one of the clearest signals a club can send.
A manager can leave someone on the bench.
A player can lose his starting position.
Form can change.
Injuries can create new opportunities.
Premier League registration is different.
Without being registered, Richarlison cannot simply train well for two weeks and suddenly return to De Zerbi’s league starting XI.
The separation is structural.
De Zerbi Says Richarlison Wanted to Leave
There is an important distinction here.
De Zerbi has not presented the situation as a straightforward case of a manager deciding he no longer rates a player.
The Italian says he tried to convince Richarlison to stay.
According to Reuters, De Zerbi explained that he spoke repeatedly with the forward at the beginning of the season, but Richarlison did not want to remain at Tottenham.
Reports also indicated that Richarlison declined the possibility of extending his contract.
Once that happened, Tottenham had a decision.
Keep a player who wanted an exit inside the squad.
Or move forward with the attackers committed to the new project.
They chose the second option.
From a squad-building perspective, the logic is understandable.
From a football perspective, the consequences have already become uncomfortable.
Tottenham Could Actually Use Him
The irony is difficult to ignore.
Spurs began the league season struggling desperately for goals.
After four Premier League matches they had failed to score once — the longest goalless start to a league campaign in the club’s history.
Their 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest highlighted the problem.
Tottenham had invested more than £300 million in their summer rebuild, yet Reuters noted that they had failed to secure another recognised centre-forward and were struggling badly in the final third.
Dominic Solanke was not yet operating at peak condition.
Sávio and Omar Marmoush were adapting.
Other attacking signings were still learning De Zerbi’s structure.
Meanwhile, the club’s leading scorer from the previous season was unavailable by choice of registration.
That is what makes the Richarlison situation so awkward.
Tottenham may have valid reasons for moving on.
But the player they excluded possesses precisely one of the qualities they have been missing:
Premier League goals.
Last Season Proved Richarlison Could Still Contribute
There is a temptation to treat Richarlison as a failed Tottenham signing because his four seasons have contained injuries and inconsistency.
The reality is more complicated.
His first campaign was difficult.
But he scored 12 goals in 2023/24.
He then produced another 12-goal season in 2025/26, including 11 Premier League goals.
He also reached 100 Premier League goal involvements in March 2026 — 73 goals and 27 assists — becoming only the third Brazilian to reach that landmark at the time.
Those are not the numbers of a useless striker.
They are the numbers of an experienced Premier League forward who has never quite found long-term stability at Spurs.
That distinction matters.
Richarlison Still Offers Something Different
Tactically, Richarlison is not the same type of forward as Tottenham’s newer attackers.
He is messy.
Physical.
Aggressive.
Sometimes technically inconsistent.
But he attacks the penalty area.
He competes aerially.
He presses centre-backs.
He makes uncomfortable near-post runs.
He can play centrally or from the left.
And when matches become physical rather than elegant, Richarlison often becomes more useful rather than less.
That was evident during Tottenham’s Europa League-winning campaign.
Spurs themselves credited his physical presence as important during their semi-final victory over Bodø/Glimt before he played in the final against Manchester United.
De Zerbi may prefer different profiles.
But Tottenham’s early-season struggle illustrates why squad variety matters.
Sometimes you need structure.
Sometimes you need chaos.
Richarlison can provide chaos.
Why Did a Transfer Not Happen?
That is perhaps the biggest question.
If Richarlison wanted to leave and Tottenham were willing to move forward without him, an exit appeared logical.
Yet the summer window closed with him still contracted to Spurs.
A return to Everton was discussed but failed to materialise.
Trabzonspor also pursued the Brazilian, with reports suggesting multiple approaches before the Turkish deadline.
Vasco da Gama later explored bringing him back to Brazil.
That move also failed to reach completion.
So Tottenham ended up in the worst possible middle ground.
The player wanted out.
The club planned without him.
But no transfer was completed.
Could January Become the Solution?
Unless the situation is unexpectedly repaired, January appears the obvious pressure point.
Richarlison’s contract expires in June 2027.
That dramatically changes Tottenham’s negotiating position.
Every month that passes reduces the time remaining on the deal.
By January, Spurs would face a choice:
accept an offer,
find another temporary solution,
attempt a reconciliation,
or risk watching the contract move closer to expiry while receiving little sporting value from the player.
For Richarlison, the motivation is equally obvious.
At 29, sitting outside the Premier League squad during an important stage of his career is not sustainable.
A forward needs matches.
Especially one whose game depends so heavily on physical sharpness, timing and confidence.
Could Tottenham Reintegrate Him?
Football changes quickly.
Managers change their minds.
Players change theirs.
Injuries alter squad hierarchies.
Poor results create pressure.
It would therefore be dangerous to declare reconciliation impossible.
But the public comments suggest the relationship would require significant repair.
De Zerbi has made clear that he attempted to convince Richarlison to stay before moving on. Reuters reported that the manager still considered the situation unchanged even while Tottenham were struggling to score.
That is significant.
If a four-game scoring drought was not enough to produce a U-turn, this appears to be about more than tactical preference.
Trust and commitment seem central to the dispute.
Spurs Have Already Rebuilt the Attack
Tottenham also spent heavily to create a squad for life without Richarlison.
Marmoush arrived.
Sávio arrived.
Mykhailo Mudryk joined the attacking group.
Solanke remains the recognised centre-forward.
Kudus offers another direct attacking option.
Mathys Tel is young enough to sit outside the senior 25-man limit.
This is a completely different attacking group from the one Richarlison originally joined in 2022.
The club has changed.
The manager has changed.
The hierarchy has changed.
Richarlison’s role disappeared during that transition.
His Tottenham Career Has Always Been Complicated
Richarlison arrived from Everton with significant expectations.
Tottenham announced his signing on July 1, 2022 after he had already established himself as a proven Premier League goalscorer with Watford and Everton.
But the move never developed in a straight line.
Injuries interrupted momentum.
Managers changed.
His position changed.
There were stretches when he was a starter.
Others when he barely featured.
There were important goals.
There were frustrating absences.
Even his best Tottenham seasons have felt temporary rather than foundational.
That may explain why this ending — if it is the ending — feels so unsatisfactory.
Richarlison was never irrelevant.
He was never completely indispensable either.
Tottenham’s Current Struggles Make the Decision Harder to Ignore
Spurs eventually broke their scoring drought against Aston Villa.
They scored twice.
They still lost 3-2 at home, leaving them winless through five Premier League matches and producing their worst league start since 2008.
That does not mean Richarlison would automatically fix Tottenham.
Football does not work that way.
Their problems extend beyond striker selection.
Defensive mistakes.
Transitions.
Fitness.
New signings adapting.
Tactical cohesion.
All matter.
But every poor attacking performance guarantees the same question will return:
Could Tottenham use Richarlison right now?
The answer from a purely footballing perspective is difficult to dismiss.
Richarlison Also Has to Accept Responsibility
It would be too easy to portray this entirely as Tottenham pushing a player away.
The available evidence suggests Richarlison wanted the transfer.
De Zerbi says he tried to persuade him otherwise.
If a player makes clear he does not want to be part of a project, the club cannot be expected to build the season around him.
Tottenham spent enormous money restructuring their squad.
They needed certainty.
Richarlison apparently could not provide it.
Both sides therefore contributed to arriving at this point.
That makes this less a simple case of a manager freezing out a player and more a transfer separation that failed to produce the actual transfer.
Football Today Media Verdict
Richarlison’s Tottenham future is not merely “in doubt.”
It looks close to reaching its natural conclusion.
The evidence is difficult to ignore.
He wanted to leave.
A transfer did not happen.
Tottenham then omitted him from the official Premier League squad.
De Zerbi has publicly backed the decision.
The club signed multiple attacking players.
And Richarlison’s contract runs only until June 2027.
Everything points toward January becoming critical.
What makes the story fascinating is Tottenham’s own form.
Richarlison scored 12 times last season.
Spurs then began this campaign unable to score in four consecutive Premier League matches.
Football can be cruel like that.
The striker Tottenham decided they could move beyond suddenly looks like a player possessing qualities they are missing.
That does not mean the decision was wrong.
It does mean the decision will continue to be questioned.
For Richarlison, the next few months could become some of the strangest of his career.
He remains a Tottenham player.
He remains on the club’s official website.
He remains under contract.
Yet when Tottenham play Premier League football, he effectively does not exist.
That situation cannot last forever.
Either the relationship must be repaired.
Or the transfer that failed to happen in the summer must finally happen in January.
Because Tottenham have moved on from Richarlison.
The problem is that Richarlison has not yet moved on from Tottenham.
Sources
Tottenham Hotspur — 2026/27 Premier League Squad Confirmed
Official confirmation of Tottenham’s 25-man Premier League squad, with Richarlison omitted.
Reuters — De Zerbi Backs Spurs Attack Despite Richarlison Omission
De Zerbi discusses Richarlison’s desire to leave, his squad exclusion, and Tottenham’s attacking problems.
Tottenham Hotspur — Richarlison Player Profile
Official statistics covering Richarlison’s 43 appearances and 12 goals during the 2025/26 season.
Tottenham Hotspur — Richarlison Joins From Everton
Original announcement confirming Richarlison signed a Tottenham contract running until 2027.
Reuters — Tottenham’s Striker Shortage Exposed Against Nottingham Forest
Analysis of Tottenham’s attacking problems following Richarlison’s omission and the club’s summer rebuild.
The Guardian — Richarlison Refused New Tottenham Contract
Reporting on De Zerbi’s explanation of the breakdown between player and club.
The National — Richarlison Left Out of Tottenham Premier League Squad
Background on the failed summer exit and reported Trabzonspor interest.
