After arriving from Everton with a price tag of £60 million last summer, Tottenham striker Richarlison has had a poor run of form in the 2022-23 season. On a recent episode of The Footballer's Football Podcast, the West Ham forward Michail Antonio and Newcastle star Callum Wilson mocked Richarlison for his wild, shirtless celebrations and failure to deliver results for Spurs as their record-signing.
The current Tottenham boss Ryan Mason was unimpressed by their comments and remarked that he would have never done it himself as a player. Notably, Richarlison has managed to score only one Premier League goal for Spurs in the current season, a stoppage-time equaliser against Liverpool in April to an insane commotion, which was immediately cancelled out by Diogo Jota’s match-winning goal at Anfield.
Antonio was quoted as saying on The Footballer’s Football Podcast, "He’s (Richarlison) scored four times this season. Three of the times he’s been offside (and) he’s taken his top off four times this season." Meanwhile, Wilson added his thoughts about the matter and said, "He’s (Richarlison) got four yellows, he’s almost on a suspension."
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Even though the pair did exaggerate the numbers to have a laugh at the expense of Richarlison, the Brazilian has gotten a yellow card only once for his wild, shirtless celebrations as a Tottenham player this season.
Ryan Mason talked about Antonio and Wilson’s comments on Richarlison and said, "Maybe he’s (Richarlison) heard it, maybe he’s seen it, maybe it will give him a little bit more. I’m not sure on that. We’re all trying to do our best, we’re all professionals, we’re working hard, we dedicate our lives to get to this level and to compete at this level. I don’t really like that type of thing (Antonio and Wilson mocking Richarlison), personally."
Mason also commented on Richarlison’s form in the Spurs shirt thus far and opined, "He’s never really had any rhythm whatsoever. He has had quite a few injuries this year and has picked up a few on international duty. I’ve always felt like he's been chasing his fitness. And there were moments early on in the season where he got a few disallowed goals, a few moments were hit the post and maybe those would have gone in then maybe it created a bit of momentum."