Tottenham defender Eric Dier has claimed that it is “time to move on” from Richarlison’s outburst against Antonio Conte because the incident was “internally resolved.” Richarlison called the club’s season “s***” and blasted the Italian for leaving him on the bench for the games against Wolves and AC Milan.
Richarlison’s debut season in north London hasn’t gone as well as he had planned thus far because he hasn’t been able to create any kind of momentum due to many injuries. He has scored just twice for the team, both times against Marseille in the Champions League, and has yet to score in the Premier League.
In the victories over West Ham and Chelsea, as well as the FA Cup loss to Sheffield United, the Brazilian finally earned himself a consistent run as a first team starter. Yet he was back on the bench for the contests against Wolves and Milan, and he wasn’t reluctant to express his annoyance.
“It was going well in a good sequence with two wins against West Ham and Chelsea,” he said, following the Milan game when asked about being sent back to the sidelines. “Suddenly, he put me on the bench against Wolverhampton and put me on for five minutes. I asked why? They didn’t tell me anything.
“This season, excuse the word, it’s been s***, because I don’t have minutes. I suffered a little with the injury. But, when I enter the field, I give my life. I came from two games. Well, I think that’s it, I think I should have played and I don’t have to cry about it.”
Conte chose to play Richarlison over Dejan Kulusevski rather than penalizing him by leaving him off the team for the weekend match against Nottingham Forest. In addition to winning the penalty for Harry Kane’s second goal and setting up Son Heung-min for the game-winning assist, he also came close to scoring his first Premier League goal but was denied by a close offside ruling.
Richarlison’s post-Milan comments issue has now been resolved, according to Dier, after the players and staff resolved it internally.
“Yes, of course. I think we solved it between us. And that is among us,” Dier told ESPN Brazil. “I think from the moment we solved it, we started saying ‘we will not continue to talk about it, or continue to punish him’.
“It happened. We solved it between us and that’s it. Now is time to move on. I think he made a great game today. It’s his quality. He plays with the heart, lives with the heart. And sometimes he has to be able to control it in the best way off the field.”
Richarlison will hope he has contributed enough to earn a long-term spot in the team when Tottenham takes on Southampton in their upcoming Premier League game.
