Richarlison shows that he can be more than a spare man for Tottenham

Most of Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer business during the summer months made a great deal of sense.

Fraser Forster is a dependable back-up goalkeeper with Premier League experience. The loan acquisition of Clement Lenglet provides a low-cost alternative to Ben Davies as a left-footed, left-sided central defender.

Yves Bissouma has been one of the English top flight’s outstanding midfielders over the past few seasons. Ivan Perišić is familiar with head coach Antonio Conte’s methods and flexible enough to be used in various roles in the Italians favoured tactical systems.

However, the £52m signing of Richarlison from Everton was a move that did not obviously follow the process of squad building pursued by managing director of football Fabio Paratici since Conte was convinced to move to North London in November of last year.

Although the Brazilian was probably Everton’s standout performer last season as he helped Frank Lampard’s side avoid relegation in the final week of the season, he still only scored 10 league goals. The 25-year-old’s most prolific campaign at Goodison Park saw him find the net on 13 occasions.

There was therefore some surprise that a club that is usually somewhat frugal in the transfer market was willing to pay such a fee for a player that did not obviously command a starting place in their team.

The standing within the squad of Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, combined with the form of Dejan Kulusevski since the Swedish international signed in January, meant they were firmly established as Conte’s preferred attacking trio in his 3-4-3 formation.

Previous attempts to provide an alternative to Kane have been cut-price solutions such as Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente and Carlos Vinicius, and none of them came close to replicating the England captain’s role in the side when he was unavailable.

Both Mauricio Pochettino and José Mourinho attempted to use Son as a centre-forward rather than turn to one of Kane’s understudies during their tenures as manager.

Richarlison has plenty of experience playing either as a partner to a traditional centre-forward such as Dominic Calvert-Lewin and was also used as more of a wide forward during his early years in England, but the success of the established front three towards the end of last season meant it was little surprise that the new arrival started the season on the bench.

But with Son struggling to hit the heights that he reached in the final months of last season and Conte forced to navigate a fatigue-inducing condensed fixture list ahead of the winter World Cup in Qatar, Richarlison has quickly established himself as more than a reserve.

His respectable if unspectacular goal tallies at Everton are a reason why there was some consternation at the size of the fee Spurs were willing to pay to acquire his services, yet there are other aspects of his game that are comparable with European football’s most effective forwards.

Across the past 12 months, Richarlison ranks in the 93rd percentile for pressures among forwards in the ‘Big Five’ leagues across Europe as well as being in the 95th percentile for interceptions, the 96th percentile for tackles, and the 98th percentile for blocks.

It is this industry and endeavour, along with a touch of devilment, that has endeared him so greatly to Spurs fans in his opening weeks in Lillywhite.

His introduction during the second game of the season at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea was not match-defining in itself, but in providing Kane with a more natural partner in attack he played a role in allowing Spurs to bypass the Chelsea press in midfield and get a foothold in a match that Spurs had been distinctly second best in.

A fortnight later, Richarlison helped to kill off a dogged Nottingham Forest side at the City Ground, as just seven minutes after being brought on he produced a glorious, outside-of-the-boot cross for Kane to head home a match-clinching second goal in the 81st minute.

These contributions as a substitute earned a first start in the 2-1 win against Fulham at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend. Across the 90 minutes, Richarlison won more duels than any other player on the field, completed the second-most tackles and key passes, and was only denied a first Spurs goal in second-half injury-time after a VAR review judged the Brazilian to be offside in the build-up.

That performance ensured that Richarlison remained in the starting line-up for Wednesday’s Champions League Group Stage opener against Marseille in North London – his first ever appearance in the competition.

Despite Tottenham enduring a largely frustrating evening, their summer signing ultimately decided the game with two headers in the final 15 minutes to secure a 2-0 win. They were the home side’s only two shots on target on the night.

The 36-cap Brazilian international was visibly overcome with emotion as he celebrated pitch-side with his parents at full-time, and even though his decisive impact on such a prominent stage caps a formidable rise from a childhood of desperately trying to avoid crime and poverty, he is only just getting started at his new club.

Despite his limited time on the pitch, Richarlison is producing more shots and more key passes per 90 than both Son and Kulusevski, whilst also averaging more successful dribbles and shot creating actions from open play than any player in the Tottenham squad so far this season.

He is already making it difficult for Conte to leave him on the bench, and should he continue to contribute so successfully with such regularity, Richarlison will prove to be far more than a spare man for Spurs this season.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt