Everton star Richarlison rumoured to be Spanish club target
Reports today in the Spanish media are linking Everton forward Richarlison with a possible move to La Liga. Is there any realistic chance he will be moving to Spain?
The young Brazilian has enjoyed an occasionally sparkling but largely inconsistent season in his first term at Everton. But given his age and relative lack of Premier League experience that shouldn’t be a great surprise.
His twelve goals so far does represent a pretty decent return. Although in a mirror of last season when he was playing under Marco Silva at Watford, his form and goal return has gradually subsided the longer the season goes on.
Richarlison certainly has talent. He possesses good pace and power, can beat an opponent one-on-one and he is sometimes effective in the air as well.
But on the downside he can too often seem to run into blind alleys and lack the subtlety to make the kind of clever runs needed to play as a central striker. Although to be fair he has only sporadically played in that position.
And perhaps most irritatingly of all he has a tendency, shared with other more high-profile Brazilian players, to fall over or throw himself to the ground at the slightest contact. This trait is becoming increasingly counter-productive both for him and the team.
So the jury is still very much out on whether Richarlison has proved a good addition to the Everton side.
Now there are stories emerging from Spain that a move for Richarlison might be made by one of La Liga’s top clubs. Spanish website as.com is reporting that Athletico Madrid are potentially interested in him.
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This is a surprising and interesting twist on the Brazil forward’s situation. It does seem a little odd that a club like Athletico would be prepared to take a punt on signing a still largely unproven player.
Many Everton fans might not be too concerned about such rumours and indeed whether he leaves in the summer. And it’s certainly the case that these sort of things often come from player agents, making them unreliable.
Whatever the truth of these stories, if Richarlison is unhappy at Goodison Park and wants to leave I’d say fine as long as Everton recoup at least every penny they spent on him last summer.