Richarlison: Tottenham player upsets 3 clubs, disappoints family, and leaves himself in limbo

Well, Richarlison’s proposed move from Tottenham to Vasco da Gama is officially over.

After days of twists, conflicting reports and increasingly creative solutions, the Brazilian club have now walked away. And this time the problem wasn’t Tottenham.

Globo Esporte report Richarlison refused to sign the long-term contract Vasco needed to make a permanent transfer work. Journalist Lucas Pedrosa, well connected within Vasco, goes further and says negotiations have now been closed.

That leaves Richarlison in a pretty uncomfortable position at Spurs.

Vasco pushed hard – Richarlison wouldn’t commit

Vasco had originally hoped to take Richarlison only until December. Once a loan became impossible, they tried to turn that into a permanent transfer and presented him with a longer-term project.

Globo Esporte say the offer to Richarlison was for three-and-a-half years. The striker and his family were excited about living in Brazil for the rest of 2026. A journalist even said he was already looking for houses in Rio. And Richarlison also liked the idea of representing the club he grew up supporting.

The problem is he wants to head abroad again once the Brazilian season ends and wouldn’t commit himself to Vasco for several years.

Pedrosa says Vasco were willing to go a very long way to accommodate that. According to him, they offered release clauses which one source described as “outside the norm”.

Even that didn’t do the trick. Richarlison remained “inflexible” and wouldn’t accept a long commitment.

Pedrosa also brings an important detail from the other side of the deal. He says negotiations between Vasco and Tottenham were “very well advanced”.

There have been contradictory reports in Brazil over whether a formal offer ever actually reached Spurs. At this point, that’s largely academic.

Vasco believed they could reach an agreement with Tottenham. They couldn’t get the agreement they needed from Richarlison. So they’ve pulled out.

Three or four months was all he wanted

That ending gives some weight to what Bruno Andrade had been saying on ESPN Brazil throughout Friday. He maintained Richarlison didn’t want a proper long-term return to Brazilian football.

The idea of playing for Vasco only appeared more recently, once terminating his Tottenham contract became a possible route out.

Andrade says Richarlison was prepared to spend three or four months there. He’d then look towards Europe or the Middle East in January. In his words, that’s more like “passing through Vasco” than properly returning to the club.

Vasco clearly couldn’t justify spending serious money on that basis. Globo Esporte say the club feel they stretched things as far as they reasonably could. Richarlison wouldn’t budge, so that’s that.

Richarlison has left himself in a difficult position

In the end, Richarlison remains a Tottenham player, but he can’t play in the Premier League after being left off their squad list. He can still play in the domestic cups.

Andrade also revealed on Friday that Richarlison had returned to training with the first team and won’t play for the U21s.

According to the journalist, that helps protect Tottenham legally after Richarlison’s lawyer formally notified the club over a possible contract termination. And Spurs appear to be playing this very carefully. All that leaves the club in a considerably stronger legal position than the player.

There’s another detail which strengthens their hand. Richarlison’s contract runs until June 2027, but Andrade says Tottenham have a unilateral option to extend it until June 2028.

The player can’t simply refuse that extension, according to the journalist. So Spurs have very little reason to give him away for nothing.

They’ve protected themselves legally and institutionally, and they’re hardly going to make a free exit easy after everything that’s happened.

That leaves Richarlison largely dependent on Tottenham now. He has limited opportunities to play and may need a good offer to arrive in January before Spurs let him go.

There are still a few open markets which could provide another escape route, including Qatar. Otherwise, this could be his situation for the next few months.

Messy saga was bad for his image

It’s difficult to argue Richarlison comes out of this episode looking good.

He came close to returning to Everton and ultimately didn’t go. He’s now rejected the commitment Vasco needed after his boyhood club spent days trying to construct a deal around him.

His relationship with Tottenham has meanwhile deteriorated badly. And potential future suitors will have watched all of this unfold as well.

That’s quite a collection of damaged relationships: Vasco, the club closest to his heart in Brazil; Everton, the club he has such an emotional connection with in England; and Tottenham, the club which still employs him.