Tottenham forward Richarlison has taken aim at his manager Roberto De Zerbi after the Spurs boss rejected the chance to call him up for his side’s Carabao Cup game at Liverpool.
The forward has been left out of his club’s Premier League squad, but is available for selection in the League Cup.
Spurs have failed to score in their first four Premier League games this season, an embarrassment heightened by the omission of Richarlison – last season’s top scorer with 12 goals – from the squad.
‘Nothing changes in my project, in my idea,’ said De Zerbi. ‘I am sorry for the goals we didn’t score, but we have the qualities to score goals.
‘We are building a new project, a new team. I can’t change my opinion about the players if they don’t win or don’t score. They are very good players.
‘If we want to change from the last two seasons, we have to be stronger and believe in the quality of the players and the decisions we made one month ago. You can change players or change coaches, change, change, change, and nothing changes. Or you stay humble, with the right spirit to work.
Richarlison has taken aim at Roberto De Zerbi after his manager revealed he will not play the Brazilian in the League Cup
‘I believe in my players. I hope they believe in themselves like I believe in them.’
But Richarlison has snapped back. Taking to Instagram, he replied to an X post around De Zerbi’s comments with a crying emoji, and then shared a screenshot of the post to Instagram with the caption: ‘Why’ with another crying emoji.
Richarlison started the league opener at Brentford, but was told he can leave before a move to Everton collapsed and links to Trabzonspor failed to turn into a move.
After he did not agree personal terms with boyhood club Vasco on Friday, he was in attendance for Spurs’ goalless draw with Everton, but will remain on the sidelines.
De Zerbi, who will be without Sandro Tonali against Liverpool after the midfielder picked up a knock, took his players out to dinner last week as he did in April, after they lost at Sunderland in his first game in charge. They returned to Mediterranean restaurant Bacchanalia in Mayfair and the Spurs boss picked up the bill.
‘Something to eat, some water, some beers,’ said De Zerbi. ‘It is a pleasure.’
De Zerbi pored over the first half-hour of Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Everton to analyse why his side could not convert their dominance into goals.
‘We played 25-30 minutes very well,’ said De Zerbi. ‘We could have scored two. We maybe lost confidence because we didn’t score. We have to improve.’
Richarlison, having demanded to leave Spurs in the summer and then failed to agree personal terms with Everton, Trabzonspor or Vasco da Gama, will remain out in the cold.
‘We lost at Brentford 3-0 [on the opening day] with Richarlison,’ De Zerbi added. ‘Maybe you forgot. Just to remind you.’
