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Chelsea made late Richarlison inquiry but refused to match Tottenham's £60m deal

Chelsea made late inquiry about Richarlison but refused to match Tottenham's £60m deal - ACTION IMAGES
Chelsea made late inquiry about Richarlison but refused to match Tottenham's £60m deal - ACTION IMAGES

Chelsea made a late inquiry about the availability of Everton striker Richarlison on Wednesday night, but decided against matching the deal offered by Tottenham Hotspur for the Brazilian, who is now bound for north London and the rebuilding job under Antonio Conte.

The final deal for Richarlison – after much attempted horse trading of players by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy – is now a total of £60 million for the 25-year-old. A component of £5m to £10m of that fee is dependent on what the players achieves at Spurs, with Everton insistent the deal be done on cash terms.

The late Chelsea interest was not enough to sway the deal. Thomas Tuchel is an admirer of the player and there was an inquiry from Todd Boehly, Chelsea’s new co-owner, chairman and temporary sporting director. At the price quoted Chelsea decided not to go ahead with an offer.

Earlier in the week, Levy had offered Everton the Holland international Steven Bergwijn as a key part of the proposed Richarlison deal with an additional balance of around £20m payable to the Merseyside club. That was firmly rejected by Everton. Levy had originally suggested that midfielder Harry Winks be part of the deal for Richarlison. The England midfielder was not of interest to Everton manager Frank Lampard. Lucas Moura, another Brazilian was also among those Spurs would have been prepared to trade.

There was also a strong Spurs interest in Anthony Gordon but Everton were unprepared to sell the academy graduate and the deal, from Spurs’ point of view, became about whether they would match the Everton valuation for the Brazilian. As for Chelsea, they are the leading contenders to sign Raphinha from Leeds United, with interest from Barcelona contingent on them selling future merchandising revenue for up front cash

Richarlison will join the Croatian Ivan Perisic, 33, who was a free agent, as new arrivals at Spurs.