Richarlison is considering legal action against Tottenham Hotspur to try to cancel his contract.The Brazil international has been in limbo ever since he was left out of Tottenham’s 25-man Premier League squad for this season, which was announced one week ago.Attempts to find a move for Richarlison have so far failed. He was close to a return to former club Everton at the end of the Premier League window, only to fail to agree terms. He was then subject to interest from Trabzonspor, just before the Turkish window closed.In the final days of the English transfer window, Richarlison made a series of cryptic remarks on Instagram regarding his future.“After everything I’ve been through in the last few years, I’ve decided that never again will anyone decide my future for me,” he wrote. “I went through a lot of bad things, and almost all of them happened because decisions were made by other people. Pressure, threats, retaliation — none of that scares me. I’ve been through far worse, believe me.”
Roberto De Zerbi, who picked Richarlison for the opening game of the season at Brentford, but has not picked him since, has been clear in his position that it was Richarlison’s responsibility to find a solution.“Richarlison decided everything alone,” De Zerbi said in his press conference last week. “He spoke with me at the beginning of pre-season and told me his desire was to leave. I want to keep just the players that want to stay and be proud, with the right passion to stay here.”Is Tottenham’s stadium the best in Europe?Hannah Vanbiber and Rachael TindeNow Richarlison and his team are exploring the possibility of trying to take legal action to cancel what remains of his Tottenham contract, following his sidelining from Spurs’ Premier League squad for this season. Richarlison still has one year remaining on the deal he signed when he joined from Everton in 2022 for an initial £50million.Under FIFA’s updated ‘Regulations on the Status and Transfers of Players’, parties can in theory cancel a contract when they have ‘Just Cause’, defined as “any circumstance in which a party can no longer reasonably and in good faith be expected to continue a contractual relationship.”The FIFA regulations state that no club may “abuse the registration or de-registration of a player as a means of pressure” or “separate a player in an abusive manner from training with the team”.In Brazil, Richarlison has been linked with a move to Vasco da Gama by local media. If he was released from his Tottenham contract then he would be free to join Vasco on a short-term deal without their having to negotiate a fee with Spurs. The Brazilian transfer window shuts early on Saturday morning.
