English football legend Alan Shearer believes that Richarlison, excluded from Tottenham Hotspur's Premier League squad, will become a headache for De Zerbi.

To comply with Premier League squad registration rules, Tottenham Hotspur had to remove a foreign player from their roster, and De Zerbi ultimately decided to leave out Richarlison. The 27-year-old had rejected transfer offers from Everton and Vasco da Gama last month. He was subsequently excluded from Tottenham's squad for their 3-1 away defeat to Liverpool in the League Cup, despite being eligible for the competition. Richarlison then posted on social media asking: "Why?"

Shearer told Betfair in an interview: "Richarlison is not in the squad, and De Zerbi has said he won't play him, so there's no going back, no way out. He's made his decision and he'll stick with it. As for what needs to happen now, I have no idea. You have a player who's not in the squad but you clearly still have to pay his wages, and he's going to become a problem. I don't think he'll stay quiet."

Shearer continued: "When the team isn't scoring goals, isn't winning, and this happens, it's just another problem the manager doesn't want to deal with. But for some reason, De Zerbi doesn't think Richarlison deserves to be in the squad."

"Clearly, Richarlison and the manager have fallen out. The manager doesn't like him, and he doesn't like the manager. This isn't a healthy situation for any club."

Tottenham Hotspur have neither won nor scored in their opening four Premier League matches this season. They will host Aston Villa on Saturday, and Unai Emery's side have also yet to record their first league victory of the season.

Regarding De Zerbi's situation, Shearer said: "De Zerbi desperately needs a good result. After guiding them to safety last season, he clearly gained the backing he wanted, and the club agreed to let him bring in the players he wanted, regardless of cost. I've said it before and I'll say it again, they've overpaid for some of the new signings, and those recruits haven't delivered."

"Some of his comments about players' fitness are hard to understand, so he desperately needs a good result and some goals. The longer this goes on, the harder it will become."

"Tottenham Hotspur's hierarchy now want to see a return on their investment. With so much money spent, results need to come quickly. The longer this drags on, the more urgent the situation becomes. They're under enormous pressure, there's no doubt about that."

"So far, I haven't seen any positive signs to justify these investments. They haven't scored in the Premier League and haven't won a match. I didn't initially think Tottenham would qualify for the Champions League, but I thought they should be around 6th or 7th place. But so far, I've seen no indication they can achieve that."

Shearer added: "This weekend against Villa will be a tough match. Villa are also struggling in the league, but they've got good results in the Champions League. Tottenham have performed very poorly so far. From what I've seen, I'm not optimistic about their chances of turning things around quickly."

"If Tottenham can't get a good result, the three-week international break coming up will feel like three months. So both teams need a good result on Saturday, especially Tottenham. Tottenham's performances aren't good enough, and they're not creating enough chances. I've seen them miss one or two opportunities, but that's nowhere near enough."

"I know they've signed Savio and Marmoush. The Richarlison problem isn't going away, and I've seen no sign that the situation will change. I've seen Marmoush miss a few chances, but that's also a positive sign because as long as they keep creating chances, things can improve. However, the longer this goes on, the more difficult things will become. Tottenham aren't dominating their opponents, and they can't simply put their current situation down to bad luck."

Traduit par IA.

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