It was difficult to truly know what Everton were getting when they signed Richarlison from Watford four years ago amid the acrimony over Farhad Moshiri's luring of Marco Silva away from Vicarage Road and the ensuing legal squabbles. The former Fluminese forward had enjoyed an impressive start to life in what would be his only season with the Hornets but went off the boil in alarming fashion in tandem with Silva's tenure there that would end abruptly in January 2018.

As a result, there were question marks over his temperament and despite scoring 48 goals in the Premier League, cementing himself as Everton's most important outfield player and maturing in demonstrable fashion, those doubts persist among outside observers who refuse to properly assess the player he has become at Goodison Park or give him his due.

Perhaps that is because, in many ways, Richarlison defies easy pigeon-holing. He scores in one of every three games for Everton, possesses great aerial ability and can poach goals in the box with the best of them but he isn't really an out-and-out centre-forward (even though that is his favoured position).

Possessing skill but not always a skilful player, he isn't a natural winger either. His best attributes are often his sheer desire, his determination and a knack for being in the right place at the right time, coupled with the ability to surprise defenders and goalkeepers alike with early shots that find the far corner of the goal with regularity.

In all of those senses, he is, perhaps, a very un-Brazilian Brazil international —albeit symptomatic of the diversification over time of that nation's playing talent and style — but it explains why even though he would surely excel on the Continent, he has adapted so well to the rigours of the Premier League. Strong enough to ride tackles, a threat from crosses and set-pieces, and pacy without being renowned for his speed, he seems almost tailor-made for the English game.

Layered on top of that is his drive and loyalty, two more qualities that have made him such a valuable player. His love of his home country and turning out in the yellow and blue of the Seleçao trump everything, of course, but Everton have come to occupy a huge part of Richarlison's heart since he arrived at Goodison Park.

It's a love that is reciprocated by Everton fans for whom “R7” has been a warrior, particularly this past season where his goals and unfailing commitment to the Blues' cause and vital goals down the home stretch of the Premier League campaign were crucial to the club's survival.

Feted with his own song, one he has been known to sing himself in Instagram videos and the opening two lyrics from which — “He's Brazilian” — he had tattooed down his neck last year, Richarlison is the quintessential fan favourite at Goodison Park. Not least because of all those aforementioned qualities he possesses and the way he almost took the burden of Everton's parlous state in 2021-22 onto his own shoulders.

It was Richarlison who regularly engaged with supporters on social media, begging them to keep the faith and to keep bringing the noise to Goodison to drive the players on. He boldly promised that the team would get themselves out of the mess they had got themselves into under the uninspired and near-disastrous managerial tenure of Rafael Benitez, even when under the Spaniard's successor, Frank Lampard, Everton fell five points adrift of safety and were staring into the abyss.

It was a promise he kept with the help of the six goals he scored in the final 10 games as the Toffees achieved safety with a game to spare. One of the most important, a solitary strike against Chelsea brought about by his tenacious closing down of Cesar Azpilicueta, yielded perhaps the most iconic image of a season that produced a few of them — Richarlison, defiance etched on his face, brandishing a “flare” with blue smoke billowing behind him as he celebrated making the breakthrough against the reigning European champions.

Richarlison with blue smoke canister

It was classic Richarlison, all business and focus, rarely smiling, even when experiencing the greatest thrill in football — scoring a winning goal. It belies his playful demeanour off the pitch but it's emblematic of a man who knows how close he came to never making it. To being condemned to a life of poverty and, perhaps, a slide into gang life in Nova Vencia where he once been threatened as a teenager with a gun held to his head.

The circumstances behind his fateful 2014 trial in Belo Horizonte are now the stuff of legend for those who revere him. With borrowed football boots but no money for a return bus ticket, he made the 370-plus mile journey from his home town for a trial at America Mineiro that was, essentially, the last chance saloon for his career. Had it not worked in his favour, he would have been stranded and, in terms of professional football, his dreams over.

Within two years he would sign for Fluminese; another year on Silva brought him to England as a raw 20-year-old for the not-insignificant sum of £11m. 11 months after that, he was at Goodison Park having followed his “professor” to Everton and while Silva's time as manager didn't work out, the acquisition of Richarlison was easily his most important contribution.

Silva's sacking left many wondering how his young protege would react but, in typical fashion, Richarlison just got on with it, giving his all for Everton and gradually forming a treasured bond with the club and its supporters. It was such that when it came to the potentially thorny issue of his international commitments last summer that the club acquiesced to his request to represent Brazil at both the Copa America and the Tokyo Olympics, with the latter meaning he would miss all of pre-season and arrive back in England almost on the eve of the 2021-22 season.

By way of honouring the pledge to stay one more year he had made to Carlo Ancelotti before the Italian deserted Goodison a year ago, Richarlison repaid Everton by returning to training just days before the season-opener with no rest from his summer exertions, started the game against Southampton and scored the goal that sparked the Toffees' comeback from a goal down to win 3-1.

10 months on, Richarlison is faced with a decision he must make in order to play Champions League football. He had endeared himself further to Evertonians by expressing his fervent desire to achieve that goal at Everton but a season of marked regression on the pitch and a financial straitjacket restricting the club from being able to match his ambition by signing the required talent to play alongside him, means the Blues are as far away from realising their European dream as ever.

For that reason, coupled with the brutal reality that Everton need to sell one of their most bankable stars, Richarlison could well leave this summer but he would surely do so with the blessing and well-wishes of every Evertonian. He routinely left everything out on the pitch, sometimes played through the pain barrier battling for the Blue cause and is one of the big reasons why this famous old club will kick off a new season this August still in the top flight.

That's not to say, of course, that he won't be sorely missed or break a few thousand hearts by leaving, especially if it's to another English club. Few players get to form the kind of relationship with Everton's fans that the kid from Brazil has done but he forged it in the best way possible — by giving his all for the shirt and delivering when it mattered.


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