Tottenham have now closed the door on a potential mid-season exit for one of Ange Postecoglou’s stars, it has been reported, with the club no longer interested in a parting of ways.
Tottenham searching for answers
A 6-3 thrashing at the hands of Premier League leaders Liverpool left Tottenham in the bottom half of the Premier League over Christmas. At almost the halfway point of the campaign, Postecoglou’s side have now lost more games than they have won, and are now a mammoth eight points off the top four, while they are still four points behind Manchester City despite City having won just one of their last eight league games, a run that included a 4-0 thrashing by Tottenham.
The north Londoners face a series of tough games ahead too, with a trip to Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day followed by games against Wolves and Newcastle before a cup tie against Liverpool and a north London derby.
Nottingham Forest (Away)
Wolves (Home)
Newcastle United (Home)
Arsenal (Away)
Everton (Away)
Though Postecoglou is not believed to be under any imminent pressure, a failure to change the trajectory of the season could force Daniel Levy and co. into a change of manager.
Spurs are expected to be active in January as they look for solutions, with a new defender an absolute must for the north London side, while they could also do with more firepower in attack given the long-term injury to summer signing Wilson Odobert. However, they have now shut the door on a potential departure.
Tottenham refuse sale in January
That comes according to Brazilian outlet Ge.Globo [Via Sport Witness], who point to Richarlison as the player in question. The Tottenham no.9 is yet to start a Premier League game this season, with injuries restricting him to just five appearances from the bench, totalling just 88 minutes of action.
The Brazilian still has two and a half years left to run on his £90,000 a week deal in north London, but there had been suggestions that Spurs were ready to cut their losses on the £50m signing.
The latest report claims that “Tottenham met with Fluminense on Friday to discuss the forward” after Tottenham “had made it clear they were open to offers” for the Brazil international. For their part Fluminense had already publicly stated their admiration for the 27-year-old, with club president Mario Bittencourt telling the media “what is certain is that we have expressed formal interest in Richarlison”.
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However, it is now claimed that the Brazilian side “did not receive a positive response” when they met Tottenham representatives on Friday, as Tottenham don’t “intend to negotiate about him in January”.
Of course, a mid-season exit was always unlikely given the price tag that would have likely been required for Spurs to part ways with Richarlison, who when fit is a key part of Postecoglou’s attack and the only recognised senior alternative to Dominic Solanke.
Given his fitness issues though, Tottenham cutting their losses in the future would not come as a massive surprise to anyone, and Fluminense could reignite their interest then.