da realsbet： The Spurs striker has endured a pretty miserable nine months, but he could still prove to be an intelligent signing

da stake casino： As soon as Richarlison plonked himself down on the bench after being withdrawn partway through Brazil's 5-1 demolition of Bolivia, the tears starting streaming down his face. His substitution came moments after the Tottenham striker had missed a gilt-edged chance which confirmed his fourth successive scoreless appearance for the Selecao – a streak that was extended to five after he again drew a blank against Peru on Tuesday.

The reason for Richarlison's emotion seemed obvious. Since arriving at Spurs from Everton for £50 million ($62m) last summer, he has struggled to nail down a starting spot in north London, but his trips away with Brazil have always been a safe space. They love Richarlison in his homeland and his place in the starting XI has rarely been in doubt.

Until now, that is. In the wake of the Bolivia match, the doyen of Brazilian sports writing Juca Kfouri stated: "It is not a reason for drama, but when Vinicius Junior returns, and with how well Rodrygo is playing, Richarlison should be happy if he's even on the bench."

However, as the player later explained, his tears were not caused by the threat to his place in the first team. Instead they came as a result of off-field problems that have been causing him significant distress in recent times.

Getty ImagesMental struggles

"I went through a turbulent time in the last five months off the field," he explained after the game. "Now things are right at home. People who only had an eye on my money walked away from me. Now things will start to flow, I’m sure I’ll get a good run at Tottenham and make things happen again.

"That sad moment wasn’t even because I played poorly [against Bolivia], in my opinion, I didn’t play a bad game in Belem, it was more of an outburst about the things that were happening off the field, which got out of control not on my part, but on the part of people who were close to me.

"I’m going to go back to England, to seek psychological help, from a psychologist, to work on my mind. That’s it, come back stronger. I believe I will be in the next squad, I will work for that. It’s about getting a good streak at Tottenham, this week I’m going to sit down and talk to them, I need a good streak, get the rhythm of the game."

AdvertisementGetty ImagesLet's not forget why Spurs signed him in the first place

Richarlison's revelation goes a long way to explaining why he's failed to live up to his potential over the past half a year or so. To understand why there has been such disappointment in his recent form, it's worth revisiting why Tottenham were convinced to part with such a substantial fee to secure his services in July 2022.

Growing up in extremely humble surroundings in eastern Brazil, Fluminense snapped up the young attacker on a five-year deal in 2015. Despite still being a teenager, he soon became one of their star players and attracted Premier League attention.

Watford spent around £11m ($14m) on him in 2017 and after an impressive debut season in England, Marco Silva – who had brought him to Vicarage Road – pushed Everton to sign Richarlison for an initial fee of £35m ($44m).

He immediately proved to be an inspired signing, energising the Goodison Park faithful with his warrior mentality, devastating physical profile and excellent finishing. Richarlison plundered 13 goals in each of his first two Premier League seasons, a feat made more impressive when you consider that Everton became increasingly dysfunctional after securing an eighth-placed finish in 2019.

During his final season with the Toffees, he was pivotal in helping the club avoid relegation – and stave off the potentially-lethal financial effects that would have followed. During a tense run-in, he netted the winner in a priceless victory over Chelsea, as well as scoring an equally-important equaliser in Everton's famous comeback win against Crystal Palace.

The blue half of Merseyside was understandably upset to see him depart. Among the younger generation of Evertonians that have been starved of success, no player had been as beloved as the Brazilian due to his work rate, match-winning displays and infectious passion.

Getty ImagesA decent start in north London

Everton's loss was Tottenham's gain, and the perception that Richarlison's time at Spurs has been a complete failure ignores the fact that he actually made a fairly promising start to life at his new club.

No one was expecting him to displace Harry Kane, Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-min from the outset, and so it proved. Yet, when he was handed a chance to impress, he looked lively.

Not only did he record three Premier League assists in just three starts prior to the World Cup, he also netted a match-winning brace against Marseille in the Champions League group stages. If not for a calf injury sustained against former club Everton, these numbers would have likely been higher too.

Antonio Conte was certainly happy enough, saying after that Marseille game: "We signed Richi to exploit the best work of this team and to try to support the three strikers.

"When you have Sonny, Harry Kane and Deki [Kulusevski] last season, behind a player like Lucas who is now injured and a big problem for us, we tried to sign a player that was able to play in all of these three positions. For this reason we had no doubts to sign him. For us this is very important because for sure when you make a change you don't drop drop the quality in attack."

Getty ImagesBrazil's most popular player

That calf injury nearly prevented Richarlison's involvement in the World Cup, but he recovered in time to lead the line for the Selecao in Qatar. He made an immediate impact in his side's group-stage opener against Serbia, grabbing a superb brace.

His first was a typical poacher's finish, but his second was Richarlison at his absolute best. Latching onto Vinicius Junior's slightly aimless cross, his first touch took the ball high into the air and, with his second, he produced an unstoppable bicycle kick that flew past Serbian goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic. The strike was rightly awarded the goal of the tournament.

In the round of 16 against South Korea, Richarlison scored again as Brazil turned on the samba style in an emphatic 4-1 victory. He celebrated by making the usually-stoney-faced Tite perform his trademark 'pigeon dance' – a joyous moment that cemented his place in the hearts of those back home.

Although Brazil would crash out of the competition on penalties to Croatia in the quarter-finals, on a personal level, the World Cup was the highlight of Richarlison's career so far. In a star-studded team, Brazilian fans focussed their devotion on him more than any other player during those few weeks in Qatar.

The tireless charity work Richarlison conducts, fuelled by his fiery social conscience, has only acted to further solidify his popularity across his homeland.