Richarlison might only have been a Tottenham player for a few months, but he has already made his feelings clear about manager Antonio Conte.
The Brazil international was one of a number of new arrivals in Conte's first summer transfer window in charge, joining from Everton in a deal worth up to £60m. He scored twice on his Champions League debut to secure a win against Marseille, but hasn't netted since amid injury and selection issues.
Richarlison was left out of the starting line-up for both legs of Spurs' Champions League round of 16 clash with AC Milan, playing just 20 minutes of each game as Conte's team went out without scoring. He pulled no punches after the elimination, aiming a string of complaints with comments which may well concern Conte amid a worrying run.
The gym test
"Yesterday [Tuesday], they asked me to take a test at the gym, that if I was good I would go to the game and, at the time of the game, they left me on the bench," Richarlison told TNT Sports (via ESPN Brasil ). Conte's demands for high levels of fitness from his squad have been well-documented, with his double sessions coming into focus at both Chelsea and Tottenham.
Players were pushed to the brink of exhaustion during Spurs' pre-season tour of South Korea as Conte turned up the pressure. Some squad members were seen collapsing after the drills, which even took their toll on England captain Harry Kane.
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All of this begs the question of what happened in that session. Did it uncover a reason for Conte to think Richarlison wasn't ready to start, or was it never his plan to include him from the get-go?
Benched again
"When I enter the field, I give my life," the forward said. "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."
The two games he refers to are the wins over West Ham and Chelsea. He kept his place against Sheffield United, with Kane rested, but Conte went with Kane through the middle and Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski out wide in the last two games.
Spurs failed to find the net across the double-header against Wolves and Milan. Richarlison accepted his injury earlier in the season was a factor in a "s***" season, but he might use the two shutouts to make his case for a start against Nottingham Forest next time out.
Explanation demanded
"Let's see what he will say tomorrow, but there are no fools here either," Richarlison added. "I'm a professional, I work every day and I want to play. There are minutes left, time left."
The former Everton man has played just 660 minutes of Premier League football for his current club, starting just seven times. He has completed a full 90 in the league under Conte just once, in the 2-1 victory at home to Fulham back in September.
Kulusevski and Son, his rivals for the wide forward berths, have both racked up more than twice as many minutes. Just under 1,400 for the Swede and more than 1,800 for the Korean.
Conte may want to point to Richarlison's lack of goal contributions in the competition, with no league goals and just three assists. Counter to that, though, the former Watford frontman might argue Spurs are a more balanced team when he is involved from the start.
