TalkSport football correspondent Alex Crook has claimed that Richarlison may well return to action for Tottenham Hotspur ahead of schedule after what he saw on Saturday.
The Brazilian has been out of action since hobbling off with a calf problem last month.
After their victory against Everton, he left the stadium on crutches and it was feared he could even miss the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
However, the 25-year-old soon took to Twitter to admit his relief and that he would be back within a fortnight – and given what Crook spotted at Bournemouth, he may indeed be close to a return.
Speaking on the TalkSport GameDay podcast, he said:
“It was interesting on Richarlison actually, it’s not really been picked up. Richarlison was at the game on Saturday, he was leading the celebrations from behind the dugout as Tottenham got that late winner.
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“He was due to have a scan on Sunday, and Conte said if the scan was okay, he would be available ahead of schedule for Marseille. [He] described him as a warrior and said it’s rare that a player would be willing to risk possibly doing himself harm for the sake of his club so close to the World Cup, so kudos from Antonio Conte to Richarlison.”
TIF Thoughts on Crook’s comments…
Despite what Crook has said, the Evening Standard has reported that the £60m summer arrival will not be involved in the trip to Marseille on Tuesday evening.
The same source suggests that his return date is still unknown, which means he could be in a race against time to make it to the World Cup, let alone play for Spurs this side of Christmas.
The 6ft attacker has been capped 37 times by his country and enjoyed himself in the recent September internationals.
He scored three goals and set up another as Seleção cruised past Ghana and Tunisia.
Brazil’s Group G campaign kicks off on November 24th as they take on Serbia, but it remains to be seen whether the Tottenham star will be part of that 26-man squad.