Antonio Conte smiles when he talks about his fearless summer signing Richarlison and the impact he can have in Saturday's North London Derby at Arsenal.
Tottenham signed the 25-year-old Brazilian from Everton in the summer for a figure that could reach £60m and he has made an instant impact with two goals and two assists in his first eight matches, as well as three goals and an assist on international duty with Brazil in the past fortnight.
Richarlison has a big fan in Conte already and the Spurs head coach admires the players' attitude as much as his ability on the pitch and when asked how the attacker would handle the hostile crowd at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday and being targeted by some Arsenal players, the Tottenham boss could not help but smile.
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"Yeah but you talking are about a player … he has no fear," the Italian said as a grin formed on his face. "He is a player that in every moment, also during the training sessions, he shows great commitment but for sure the first thing that I see in him is that he has no fear.
"He is not scared about nobody. Not about the atmosphere, about the noise. He is really strong. Into the pitch also with the opponent … it’s difficult to play against him, because he has no fear."
Richarlison will do battle at the World Cup for the coveted Brazil number nine shirt with Gabriel Jesus, who has started the season in fine form after joining Arsenal.
"We are talking about two amazing number nines. Tite the Brazil coach is lucky, because you can count on two fantastic strikers. We are talking about the number nine and Neymar is more a winger-striker. To have players like this, for sure, you are ready to face the World Cup with great ambition" said Conte.
"Then you know very well the competition is a short competition. You have to play every three or four days and for this reason, you need to have players with the same quality and don't take risks to drop the quality – if you start with Richy and then another game you start with Jesus. We are talking about two really top players and every manager has to be happy to have this type of problem."
Conte has not been surprised by the start Jesus has made across north London, with the 27-year-old scoring four goals and laying on three assists in his eight matches so far for the Gunners.
"I'm not surprised because I know Gabriel Jesus and his value. He was an important player at Manchester City, but the problem was Manchester City had a fantastic squad and sometimes [Raheem] Sterling was on the bench, Jesus as well," explained the Tottenham head coach. "When you want to be competitive, when you want to fight to win a trophy, Premier League, Champions League, a national trophy, the squad has to be strong.
"Then you know very well every single player wants to play every game. Jesus wanted to go to Arsenal to play regularly. It was the same for Sterling, but you are talking about really top, top players that in the past they were on the bench. This shows you the quality of Manchester City’s squad. This is the difference between the title contenders and the other teams.
"We are talking about teams that are already ready to win and they go only to improve because every season you know that you can count on an important squad and then you add two, three important players, but I’m not surprised about Jesus, about Zinchenko, about their quality, because they showed their quality also at Manchester City."
Spurs and Arsenal do battle at the Emirates on Saturday in the early kick-off and Conte's first experience of the North London Derby brought a 3-0 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium towards the end of last season, which sparked his team overhauling the Gunners to finish in the top four.
"The impact of this game is always the same. We are talking about a derby and I know very well that a rivalry exists between these two clubs. Last season it happened at the end that we overcame them in the race for the Champions League. It does not mean that they were less strong than us," said the Spurs boss.
"Now is another season, I think they want to try to fight for something important and Arsenal is one of the top six teams in the Premier League. They deserve great respect, they are working very well with Arteta for many years and they are backing him in every situation. We have great respect but we are going there to play our game and try to do our best."
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