Why Richarlison clearly wants out of Tottenham as new evidence proves

Richarlison doesn't look thrilled to be a Tottenham Hotspur player.

The 29-year-old striker has been effectively exiled from the first-team squad by Roberto De Zerbi.

Spurs tried to ship the Brazilian back to Everton this summer, but a move to Hill Dickinson Stadium didn't materialise.

As such, he's now stuck in N17 until January, and De Zerbi has made it clear that Richarlison won't play for him under any circumstances.

It's a real shame to see his Lilywhites career fading towards this type of ending, as he's scored some big goals for Spurs down the years.

However, it's now glaringly obvious - in this case, literally glaring - that Richarlison doesn't want to be a Tottenham player.

What is Richarlison seen doing in Tottenham's squad photo?

As is customary for many teams, the post-summer transfer window squad photo is an age-old tradition.

Tottenham's class of 2026-27 have been posing for theirs recently, and the final product was released on Thursday.

Spurs took to their official X account to showcase the first-team squad photo for this season, which was taken at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It captures De Zerbi and his coaching staff, along with Spurs' group of first-team players for this season, with many wearing big smiles.

One who certainly isn't is Richarlison, who is seen standing as the furthest player to the right on the back row.

He's seen frowning and glaring menacingly straight ahead, and to say he looks far from thrilled to be there is perhaps an understatement.

But why did his only Premier League appearance of this season against Brentford always threaten to condemn him to Spurs exile?

Richarlison's Brentford display didn't deserve second De Zerbi chance

De Zerbi is known to be ruthless when it comes to the pursuit of winning.

As such, some may see the way he's handled Richarlison this season as being slightly extreme, but this isn't the case.

This isn't a young player learning his trade, Richarlison is an experienced, high-earning striker with a duty to lead the Spurs line well.

Against Brentford on the opening game of this season, he failed in that duty, and that was enough for De Zerbi to no longer place trust in him.

Per FotMob, he took zero shots on goal, created zero chances and took only 17 touches - the fewest of any Spurs starter at the Gtech.

Richarlison also was dispossessed once, made zero tackles, won two of his seven ground duels, zero of his four aerial duels and committed two fouls.

No Tottenham starting player that day - Antonin Kinsky aside - covered less ground running than him either.

Richarlison clearly doesn't want to be here, and De Zerbi evidently doesn't want him in his squad either.

So, it's perhaps not a coincidence that Richarlison was placed as far away from De Zerbi for this team photo as possible.