Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has given some insight into why Richarlison has now improved his form for the club after a difficult first season in north London.
The Brazilian forward joined Spurs from Everton last season, but didn’t have anything like the kind of impact fans will have expected after seeing the kind of form he had previously been producing in the Premier League during a successful spell at Goodison Park.
Now, however, Richarlison seems to be showing signs of getting back to his best, and Postecoglou insists a lot of that is about the player’s fitness, with some niggling injury problems derailing his time at Tottenham so far.
On top of that, the fitness issues may have affected his confidence as he had that added pressure of arriving at Spurs with a big price tag, and with the new expectation to challenge for honours, which he wouldn’t really have had in the same way at Everton.
Speaking in his press conference, Postecoglou praised Richarlison’s improvement, saying he now looks a bit more free in training and tipping him to now be in a better position to have more of a positive impact on the team and achieve his full potential on the pitch.
“He looks a lot freer in training from when I first arrived. Everything was a bit of a struggle for him when I first got here and you could tell that he wasn’t able to play or move as freely as he’d have wanted to. He was still having an effect on games … but since he got back, you can see he feels more like himself in terms of what he can do physically,” the Australian tactician told reporters.
“He came here after having a fantastic impact in the Premier League with Everton, then he came here and whenever significant money is invested at a club that’s competing for honours, those are the challenges you have to overcome. That coupled with the physical challenges he’s had … we’re just trying to give him that platform.”
He added: “He showed last week that he can be a real threat, with and without the ball. It’s up to him now to take his football to the level we all know he can.”