ENFIELD, England -- Roberto De Zerbi has revealed that he spoke to Richarlison about signing an extension to his Tottenham contract at the beginning of preseason, only for the player to decline and subsequently find himself omitted from the club's Premier League squad.
The Spurs head coach has repeatedly said that players who do not wish to remain at the club are free to explore a move elsewhere, but when a prospective return to Everton collapsed, a transfer elsewhere failed to materialise for Richarlison before the Premier League's transfer deadline on Sept. 1.
After the move to Everton fell through, Richarlison wrote in a post on Instagram that "never again will anyone decide my future for me" and asked Spurs to show "respect" over his transfer wish.
Tottenham confirmed on Thursday that the 29-year-old was not among the 25-man squad they selected for the first half of the new Premier League campaign.
"You don't know one important thing. The beginning of the preseason, I spoke with Richarlison and I asked him if he wanted to extend his contract because I was happy to keep him with us and he didn't want," De Zerbi told a news conference on Friday.
"So yes, Richarlison is a good player, yes. He was important last season, yes. Very important. He's a good guy, yes. By the end, I had to stop myself and to stop my pressure on the player if the player show me they want to leave. So what I can answer, I'm sorry for him, but we have to go in another page and to work with Solanke and with Omar Marmoush."
Asked earlier it was his call to omit Richarlison from Spurs' Premier League squad, De Zerbi replied: "No, it's not my decision. It's the normal decision... If you don't want to stay, why I have to keep you on the list? Why you have to stay?
"I'm not Vinai [Spurs CEO Vinai Venkatesham] or the sporting director. I'm the coach and I would like to work with the people who are hungry if they don't play, but happy to stay in this club."
With some transfer windows still open for other domestic leagues in Europe and further afield, there remains the possibility that Richarlison could yet be on the move to avoid spending months on the sidelines in north London. However, his options were further limited on Friday evening by the closing of the transfer window in Türkiye where Trabzonspor had been credited with interest in the Spurs striker.
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Kulusevski's training return lasted three days
De Zerbi also said that Dejan Kulusevski has had a small setback in his return from a serious knee injury that has kept him out for more than 15 months.
Kulusevski returned to full training on Monday with the Swede marking the moment with an emotional post on Instagram that referenced "pain, doubt, surgeries and countless hours of training and rehabilitation."
However, De Zerbi told reporters on Friday that Kulusevski had picked up a small issue and had missed the last two days of training with a problem he described as "nothing important."
He added: Kulusevski started with us in the beginning of the week and then the last two days has more problem. He stopped it [training], but I think he's in a good way. He's going very well. I already said the medical staff is very high level, so I think we can be positive with him. Looking forward to have also Deki in the squad."
Tottenham, who are still searching for their points and goals of the new season, travel to face Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
