Richarlison’s future at Tottenham Hotspur remains uncertain after the Brazilian was excluded from the club’s 25-man Premier League squad.
The Spurs forward appeared to send a clear message on social media just hours after Tottenham suffered another disappointing defeat under Roberto De Zerbi.
Richarlison posted a video of himself training on his Instagram story, accompanied by the caption: “The focus remains.” The 28-year-old then shared another clip showing him completing sprint training, adding: “35.4km/h – I broke my record.”
His posts came shortly after Tottenham suffered a 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa, leaving De Zerbi’s side with just two points from their opening games of the season.
Villa appeared to be cruising after taking a three-goal lead, but Spurs mounted a late comeback when Conor Gallagher pulled one back in the 86th minute. Jan Paul van Hecke then added another late consolation, although Tottenham were unable to complete the comeback.
Richarlison has been frozen out after making it clear during the summer transfer window that he wanted to leave north London.
De Zerbi has previously confirmed that the situation has not changed and that Richarlison will not be involved in either the Premier League or Carabao Cup.
“Richarlison, you already know everything and nothing changes for the Carabao Cup or Premier League. The situation is the same,” De Zerbi said.
The Tottenham boss also revealed that he had attempted to convince the Brazilian to remain at the club and even discussed the possibility of extending his contract.
“At the beginning of this season, I spoke with him and proposed an extension to his contract. If he said, ‘no, thank you,’ then I finished my job,” De Zerbi explained.
The Italian insisted that he would not reveal details of what had happened between Richarlison and the club, saying the matter was between the player and Tottenham.
“I know what happened in the last 45 days. It’s not right if I explain. It’s not my behaviour. The relationship and the problem are between the player and the club,” he added.
De Zerbi also admitted that he had spoken to Richarlison several times in an attempt to persuade him to stay, but the forward remained determined to leave.
“I spoke to him many times to convince him to stay and he didn’t want to. I can’t go every day to pray for him to stay,” the Spurs manager concluded.