Well, this is big. In the past week news has emerged that Tottenham Hotspur has been pushing to sign Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke, and along with that has been suggestions that the funding for Solanke’s transfer would preferably be offset by the sale of Richarlison to a Saudi Arabian club, most likely Al-Ahly. Richarlison has notably denied being interested in moving to Saudi on social media in the past, but there were suggestions the club was trying to give him a gentle shove out the door.
Looks like the shove wasn’t firm enough. There’s a new article out this morning in ESPN Brazil that says Richy has confirmed interest in him from Saudi Arabia, but has REJECTED any move to Al-Ahli or anywhere else. This is partly because he’s very happy at Tottenham and partly because he doesn’t want a move to the Middle East to jeopardize his status with the Brazilian national team, where he is currently the starting No. 9.
“The money is high, but my dream is bigger. [An] offer arrived, but my dreams of the Brazilian national team and Premier League speaks louder. It’s decided”.
Well. That’s pretty much settled then, huh? Richarlison’s initial contract at Tottenham is through June of 2027, and whether or not the club wants to sell him, his Spurs contract means he can turn down any deal if he wants. Sure seems like he wants to turn this one down.
It’s also worth noting that news of Al-Ahly’s interest in Richarlison was posted on Twitter yesterday on the feed of what has been described to me as the “Saudi Arabian equivalent to Fabrizio Romano” and a number of the social media replies from Al-Ahli fans were EXTREMELY negative about the potential transfer. Social media, especially Twitter, is a toxic cesspool so I hesitate to read too much into that, but Richarlison is also a pretty online guy, and so I suspect this could have had at least some impact on his thinking if he was aware of it.
Now the real issue turns to what sort of knock-on effects this will have to Tottenham’s recruitment in what’s left of the transfer window. I have my doubts that Spurs really needed to offset a move for Dominic Solanke by selling Richarlison — they’re nowhere close to having issues with PSR, and even if Bournemouth are demanding a good chunk of Solanke’s fee up front I would be surprised if Spurs are that illiquid they couldn’t make a move like that happen anyway if they wanted to.
But Solanke and Richy are also a very similar profile and it’s not clear that the club would want to have both of them on the squad at the same time. Don’t know what it means — could Spurs now turn their attention to another striker, like Lille’s Jonathan David (whom Tottenham are still linked with)? Will they decide to just roll with Richy, Dane Scarlett & Will Lankshear and focus on a dribbly wide attacker?
Richarlison’s a popular figure, both in the dressing room and with fans. He’s struggled with injury over the past couple of seasons, but has been very open about how his life has been saved through addressing his mental health and has been very generous with his time and money over his years in the game. I certainly don’t mind keeping him around, but doing so so will have SOME sort of squad impact, certainly.
Dunno what this all means for sure. But it sure sounds like we should count on at least one more season of the Pigeon at White Hart Lane.