Richarlison sometimes says he wants to leave Tottenham - Roberto De Zerbi

SYDNEY -- Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi has cast doubt on Richarlison's future at the club, saying sometimes the Brazil forward wants to leave.

Barely 30 minutes after Richarlison tapped home the winner in a 2-1 friendly win over Chelsea in Sydney, De Zerbi let slip that the Richarlison's time a the club may be coming to an end.

With just twelve months left on his contract and no reported talks about his future, De Zerbi told media on Saturday that the 29-year-old forward, who has been at Spurs since 2022, has been giving the club mixed signals about what he wants to do at the end of the season.

"I don't know, because as a player, as a guy, he's unbelievable [in] his attitude and behaviour, but in the end, we have to respect what he wants to do," De Zerbi said.

"It's not so easy to find another striker as Richarlison, because Richarlison scores goals and he knows the way. The new striker, we don't know. The other striker, we don't know. He scored 12 goals last season -- not lucky, because he feels the way to score goals.

"So I don't know. I didn't understand well because sometimes he says [he wants] to stay, sometimes he [wants to] leave. There is not any problem. He's a lovely guy. All of us know him; he makes the club, the staff, because he works hard every day, seriously every day, and we can't say anything [negative]."

While Richarlison may potentially be looking to move on, young midfielder Archie Gray looks set to be a long-term option at Spurs, with De Zerbi handing the 20-year-old the captain's armband in every game of their friendly tour Down Under.

When asked what the strategy was in elevating Gray to such an important role, De Zerbi said with a smile: "I'm the coach, I decide."

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"Anyway, I think this has been more important for Archie Gray than for Ben Davies because it's like to give Archie something more as a confidence [booster]," he added.

"Last season, I said he is the future of the club, as well as the present. It's important for us because he can cover 2-3 positions on the pitch. He doesn't love too much to play in the right-back position, but I think with the captain, you have to think first of all for the group, for the team, for the club, then for yourself.

"So it was something more to give him, because he decided to give more to this club, even with his different position, even if he doesn't play in the best eleven."

De Zerbi also reflected on the return of Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea's squad following his appeal against a doping ban that kept him out of professional football since November 2024, was resolved on Friday.

De Zerbi, who coached Mudryk at Shakhtar Donetsk before their respective moves to the Premier League, described him as "my second son" and was thrilled for his return.

"I'm very, very happy," he said.

"A good guy, a top player, hopefully he can show what he suffered in the last two years in the next season. Maybe not against Tottenham, but he's a lovely guy and he's a very, very good player."

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