Tottenham star Richarlison has fired back at Callum Wilson and Michail Antonio after the pair had poked fun at his goal record during the 2022/23 season. Signed from Everton for £60 million last summer, the Brazilian ended his first campaign in north London with three goals in 35 appearances.
The attacker was unlucky not to have added a few more to his tally after having strikes ruled out in the home games against Fulham and Nottingham Forest. Impressing in his first few appearances for Spurs, Richarlison appeared to have opened his Tottenham account in the win over the Cottagers in September and duly whipped his shirt off but the goal was disallowed by VAR.
Amid his struggles this campaign, Wilson and Antonio, speaking on their The Footballer's Football Podcast, mocked the player days after he had again taking his shirt off to celebrate his late equaliser against Liverpool, only to then see the Reds score a last-minute winner after previously surrendering a three-goal lead.
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"He's scored four times this season," said Antonio. "Three of the times he's been offside [and] he's taken his top off four times this season." "He's got four yellows – he's almost on a suspension," responded Wilson, with both then laughing about the player's predicament.
While he may have only scored three times for the Lilywhites in his debut campaign, the player was on song for Brazil in last year's World Cup as he chipped in with three goals, including a memorable double in their 2-0 win over Serbia in their Group G opener. Wilson was also present at the World Cup but only played 47 minutes in his two England appearances, whereas Antonio was not involved at all as Jamaica did not qualify for the tournament.
Given his heroics in Qatar at the end of 2022, Richarlison hit back at Wilson and Antonio with a World Cup jibe on TikTok. He wrote: "How many goals do both have in the World Cup?", which was followed by an embarrassed face emoji.
Speaking last month, Tottenham acting head coach Ryan Mason opened up on the comments from the pair that had left him very unimpressed.
"I certainly don't feel like I'm ever in a position to criticise another head coach or another manager on the work they're doing or the job they're doing at their football club," he said.
"Richy I don't think he's thinking about other players, to be honest, I think it is his own pride and his own determination that will probably drive that most of all. In terms of Richy. I don't know. Maybe he's heard it, maybe seen it? Maybe. Maybe it might give him a little bit more. I'm not sure. I'm really not sure about that."
He added: "First of all, I guess as a coach I wouldn't do it, and as a player, I've never done it as well. I don't really like that type of thing. We're all trying to do our best.
"We're all professionals. We're working hard. We dedicate our lives to get to this level and to compete at this level. So don't really like that type of thing personally.
"But from a player's point of view. I've been signed for a club as a record signing. So I know the feeling that you want to give back. You really want to give back and one thing I will say about Richy is he has always come in and he's added energy to try to you know, he's a fighter.
"He works hard, he trains hard and I've never seen someone that's shirked responsibility. Yes, of course, we would have wanted more goals and he would have wanted more goals from himself, but that's not happened. Hopefully now he can influence the last two games and score goals to help us."
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