Richarlison's future at Tottenham Hotspur appears to be drawing to a close after the Brazilian forward was omitted from the club's 25-man Premier League squad list submitted on Thursday.
The decision follows a turbulent week for the 29-year-old, who used social media on Monday to publicly vent his frustration over his situation at the north London club. In a pointed Instagram post, Richarlison declared that "never again will anyone decide my future for me," signalling his desire to leave Spurs.
Manager Roberto De Zerbi addressed the growing tension after Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle, stating plainly that Richarlison "said too many times he wants to leave" and suggesting the forward could depart before more transfer windows close around the world.
A move back to Everton, the club where Richarlison spent four years between 2018 and 2022 before joining Tottenham, was reportedly discussed but broke down ahead of Tuesday's deadline for transfers within England. However, with several international transfer windows still open, Richarlison could yet find a new home elsewhere. Turkish side Trabzonspor have been credited with interest as Turkey's deadline arrives today.
Despite his public struggles at Spurs, Richarlison contributed 12 goals last season as the club narrowly avoided the drop from the Premier League. He has also spoken candidly in the past about battles with his mental health.
Tottenham's own season has begun disastrously despite a summer spending spree exceeding £350m. De Zerbi's side sit at the foot of the Premier League table after two matches, having opened with a 3-0 loss at Brentford before the home defeat to Newcastle.
The Richarlison saga formed part of a busy day of football news, which also saw former Premier League referee Mike Dean come under fire from ex-colleagues over claims made on Jamie Vardy's podcast. Dean, who officiated in the top flight until 2022, said he used to informally challenge himself and assistants during matches in the pre-VAR era, including seeing how long he could avoid blowing his whistle and how long he could remain standing in the centre circle. He claimed to have once gone up to 25 minutes without a whistle and stayed in the centre circle for around 15 minutes.
Keith Hackett, who oversaw referees including Dean at the Professional Game Match Officials Limited between 2004 and 2010, dismissed the claims as fantasy, writing on social media that performance monitoring at the time would have made such behaviour impossible to hide. "Dean on my watch could not have done what he said with the monitoring systems in operation," Hackett wrote, adding that Dean was "talking nonsense" and had damaged his own reputation. Fellow former official Graham Scott echoed the scepticism, writing that he was "supremely confident that neither story is true."
Elsewhere on transfer deadline day, Liverpool confirmed the signing of 18-year-old St Etienne winger Djylian N'Guessan, who will officially join the Merseyside club in January following a loan spell at Brest, continuing Liverpool's strategy of recruiting young talent from across Europe.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football, Press Association, Agence France-Presse.