Roberto De Zerbi has said Richarlison’s exclusion from Tottenham’s Premier League squad was the result of the player’s own decision, after revealing he had tried to persuade the forward to stay.

Richarlison has been omitted from Spurs’ squad list for the Premier League, but De Zerbi stressed he has no regrets about the outcome because it was not a move he initiated.

“If I had decided on my own to leave him out of the squad, I would have regrets,” De Zerbi said. “But the decision has not been taken by the club. It has been a consequence of what I told you already last week, that he has decided.”

De Zerbi did not go into the full details behind the matter, but indicated that Richarlison’s conduct over the past 45 days had eventually brought about his omission.

“Richarlison is a good guy, very good guy,” he said. “I spoke with him a lot of times and I spent time to convince him to stay.

“But if you ask me, I know the truth. I know what happened in the last month, in the last 45 days. And it’s clear.”

The Spurs manager added that he would have liked the situation to end differently.

“I’m sorry because it could be different,” he said. “Even the end of the story, but in a different way, I think, would have been better.

“It was much better with Richarlison on the list, if Richarlison was happy to stay, maybe to extend his contract, because he’s still an important player.

“He was important last season. We can’t forget, but we can’t forget also the last 45 days.”