Tottenham’s Richarlison has directly denied claims he’s close to an agreement with Vasco da Gama and says he hasn’t abandoned his attempt to terminate his Spurs contract.
At least that’s the message coming from Thiago Asmar, better known in Brazil as Pilhado.
A word of caution is needed here. Asmar doesn’t have the strongest reputation for transfer reporting, so we’d usually treat claims from him carefully.
However, he says he speaks to Richarlison every day and had just finished a video call with the Tottenham player on Friday morning.
More importantly, Asmar says Richarlison authorised him to publicly relay his version of events – and that sounds like Richarlison alright.
Given how contradictory this story has become in Brazil, that certainly gets our attention.
‘This is crazy’
We covered earlier on Friday that Vasco were getting closer to an agreement with Richarlison. According to Asmar, the player himself says that isn’t true.
“This is crazy. There’s nothing like that,” Richarlison reportedly told him.
He also appears to have a very clear problem with the deal Vasco have been trying to negotiate with Tottenham.
“I’ve already said it won’t happen if Vasco buy me. What I want at this moment is a termination with Tottenham.”
And there’s another big contradiction. Richarlison was reported on Thursday to have backed away from trying to terminate his contract after his camp concluded the chances of success were slim. Asmar says the striker specifically denied that.
“I haven’t backed away from a termination.”
The journalist says the formal notification is already with Tottenham. Richarlison even showed him a conversation in which he was chasing a Spurs director for an answer.
He wants to know whether Tottenham are prepared to find an amicable solution or whether the dispute will have to go further.
Richarlison only wants Vasco after Tottenham exit
Asmar says he even asked whether Richarlison’s representatives could be negotiating a permanent Vasco transfer without the player knowing. Again, the answer was very clear.
“No, impossible, because I’ve already said that a sale to Vasco right now is impossible for me.”
That doesn’t mean Richarlison has rejected Vasco. Quite the opposite. His preferred sequence, according to Asmar, is to first get himself out of Tottenham and then join the Brazilian club for the remainder of 2026.
“I won’t go to Vasco if it’s through a purchase, if Vasco have to buy me. What I’m going to try is the termination, and then I can play for Vasco until December.”
That’s the key distinction. Richarlison apparently wants Vasco. He just doesn’t want Vasco buying him from Tottenham.
Asmar was also pretty irritated by suggestions elsewhere in Brazil that an agreement with the player is practically done.
“There’s nothing advanced. It’s nothing like it only needs to be announced.”
He believes someone is feeding incorrect information to the Brazilian media. We’re certainly not going to try to decide who’s doing that.
Vasco fans starting to lose patience
There’s another side to all this which is becoming harder to ignore in Brazil. Some Vasco supporters are already getting impatient with Richarlison’s position.
There’s been huge excitement around the possibility of signing him, but his apparent insistence on staying only until December is creating some concern.
The feeling among those fans is understandable. Vasco are being asked to make a huge effort to get Richarlison out of Tottenham, while the player apparently wants the freedom to leave Brazil again within a few months.
Some supporters have already turned against the idea completely. Sport Witness spoke directly to one Vasco fan that said: “If he doesn’t want to stay, he doesn’t even need to come.”
That could become another interesting pressure point if this drags through Friday. Brazil’s window closes at midnight, 4am Saturday in the UK.
According to someone who says he spoke directly to Richarlison on Friday morning, the player still wants Vasco. He also still wants out of Tottenham.
He just wants it entirely on his terms, and that’s starting to make this complicated for everyone involved.
