Paul Merson has claimed that Richarlison is a better impact substitute for Tottenham Hotspur instead of a starter.
After what appeared to be a largely promising summer transfer window, Spurs are appearing to falter under Antonio Conte, although they are still sitting third in the Premier League, a position many fans would likely take come the end of the season.
Tottenham have won just once in their last four games across all competitions and that has also been accompanied by a lack of bite in the final third scoring just three times in that period of time, despite splashing out £60 million on Richarlison over the summer.
Merson has now insisted in his Sportskeeda column that despite costing £60 million, Richarlison would be of better use to Conte coming off the bench instead of starting a game.
‘Dejan Kulusevski has been a big miss for Tottenham, they are a much better team when he plays. Richarlison has had a decent start to life at his new club, but with all due respect to him, Spurs look much better with Kulusevski on the pitch and Richarlison coming on to run at tired legs.’
Should Richarlison start vs Brighton?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on Richarlison’s role at Spurs…
Many may well have expected Richarlison to have hit a better run of form since joining the club having cost them £60 million and was fresh off the back of a great season in front of goal for Everton which saw him net 10 times and register five assists in the Premier League.
However, he is still yet to get off the mark in the league for Tottenham, although he does indeed have two assists to his name, but with Tottenham struggling for consistency of late, Conte may well look to rotate his squad moving forward.
Richarlison may be offered another chance to try and kickstart his Spurs league career given that Dejan Kulusevski’s injury status is very much unknown, so if he’s absent then it would likely be a front three of Richarlison, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, which is rather predictable for teams to plan against given the lack of options in the final third outside of Kulusevski.
Although planning against Richarlison may well be difficult for teams this season given he’s been labelled a ‘nuisance‘ recently meaning he must be a nightmare to play against.