Spurs must rue losing star now worth more than Richarlison

The last couple of years have been rough for Tottenham Hotspur.

The North Londoners were finally forced into selling club icon Harry Kane, and while Ange Postecoglou’s side have still been able to score plenty of goals, the results have been inconsistent at best.

Fortunately, with the signing of Dominic Solanke, it appears as if the club have found their new starting number nine for the next few years, as after two and a half campaigns of injuries and lacklustre displays, it’s become crystal clear that Richarlison is not that.

The Brazilian forward can never be accused of not trying, but he’s simply not clinical enough in front of goal, and now his valuation has fallen below that of a former youth player the club lost almost seven years ago who is now a regular starter in the Premier League.

Richarlison’s Spurs career

Spurs decided to pay Everton £60m for Richarlison in the summer of 2022.

While it was probably too much at the time, it wasn’t totally absurd, as in just 33 appearances for a subpar Toffees side, he managed to score 11 goals and provide five assists.

However, it didn’t take long for the move to look like a mistake, as by the end of his first campaign with the Lilywhites, the Nova Venécia-born forward had only managed to rack up a paltry record of three goals and four assists in 35 appearances, which comes out to a dire return of a goal involvement every five games.

His sophomore season in the capital wasn’t quite as bad as the 27-year-old marksman managed to score 12 goals and provide four assists for Postecoglou’s side, but injuries limited him to just 31 appearances and have been a constant problem during his time in N17.

For example, the former Watford star has already missed 33 games for the club this term, but even when he has played, he’s been underwhelming; in the 14 first-team appearances he’s only been able to make for the Australian, he’s only scored three goals and provided one assist.

In all, a mix of persistent injuries and disappointing performances have seen Richarlison’s valuation plummet since 2022, as according to Football Transfers, the Brazilian is only worth up to €38m, which comes to about £32m, or £28m less than he cost the club two and a half years ago.

Moreover, the former Goodison Park icon is now worth millions less than an academy player Spurs lost back in 2018.

The Spurs academy star worth millions more than Richarlison

While this season has been something of a disaster for the first team, one of the few positives has been the emergence of academy stars like Mikey Moore, who’s already scored for the first team, Jamie Donley, who’s tearing it up for Leyton Orient and Lucá Williams-Barnett, who looks like he could be a future superstar.

Moreover, it looks as if the club will be keeping a hold of all three young stars for some time to come, which they weren’t able to do with Noni Madueke.

The Barnet-born dynamo was a part of the Lilywhites’ youth set-up until the summer of 2018 when he joined Eredivisie giants PSV Eindhoven, despite the North Londoners’ best efforts.

In the Netherlands, the youngster went from strength to strength and, in 80 first-team appearances, racked up an impressive haul of 20 goals and 14 assists, which was good enough to secure a £30m move to Chelsea in January 2023.

Despite initially struggling to assert himself in West London and break into the starting lineup, the “elite talent,” as was described by talent scout Jacek Kulig, is now a key member of Enzo Maresca’s first team squad.

Before the potential hamstring injury he picked up on Friday, he had racked up a brilliant tally of eight goals and four assists in 38 appearances, totalling 1653 minutes.

That comes to an average of a goal involvement every 2.33 games, or every 137.75 minutes, which is why Football Transfers now value the Englishman at up to €58m, which comes to about £48m, or £16m more than Richarlison is now worth.

Ultimately, Spurs did try to keep a hold of Madueke in the past, so his exit cannot really be blamed on them, but it’s still likely frustrating for them to see him flourishing at Stamford Bridge, while one of their most expensive attacking signings most certainly is not.