Salah Working to Convince Richarlison to Join Trabzonspor

When a former Premier League teammate starts acting as an impromptu agent, it says a lot about how tangled the Richarlison situation has become. Mohamed Salah, no less, is behind Trabzonspor's efforts to convince the Brazilian to pack his bags for Turkey before the transfer window closes.

The forward was left off Tottenham's 25-man list for the Premier League this Friday, a move that makes the club's intention to show him the door pretty clear. The spot Richarlison occupied, according to what ESPN learned, was freed up to accommodate the 10 new signings Spurs brought in this transfer window. To complete the picture, the player himself trained with the Under-21 squad in recent weeks, something that doesn't usually happen to a forward who was an undisputed starter just a few months ago.

The story goes back a while. Head coach Roberto de Zerbi had admitted last weekend that Richarlison, along with Pape Matar Sarr and Kevin Danso, had asked to leave before the transfer window closed in England. Sarr ended up signing with Juventus and Danso joined Sunderland, but the Brazilian was left in limbo: a return to Everton, the club that launched him in English soccer, was floated heavily, but that option never quite came together.

That's when the Turkish and Saudi Arabian leagues entered the picture. Trabzonspor put an offer of 20 million euros (about $23.2 million) on the table, which Tottenham turned down. That rejection, according to what ESPN learned, left Richarlison fairly disappointed with a club board that, in theory, had already accepted the forward wanted out.

With the Turkish window closing this Friday at 10:00 p.m. Spanish time, the clock is working against any deal. That's where Salah comes in, an Egyptian idol and former locker room teammate in English soccer, trying to convince Richarlison that Trabzonspor could be the right destination to relaunch his career.

A Brazilian Reunion on the Black Sea

If the transfer does go through, Richarlison wouldn't be walking into an unfamiliar locker room. He would find his countryman Fabinho there, who also landed at Trabzonspor this transfer window after arriving from Al Ittihad. The two were teammates on the Brazilian national team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a tournament in which the Canarinha reached the quarterfinals.

For now, everything hinges on whether Tottenham gives in and whether Richarlison fully makes up his mind. The next few hours, with the Turkish market about to close, should quickly reveal whether the Brazilian stays in London training apart from the group or packs his bags for the Black Sea.