Graeme Souness defends Richarlison showboating, admits ‘I’ve done it’, and makes Muhammad Ali and Diego Maradona comparison adding ‘arrogance can be a good thing’

Graeme Souness has admitted he indulged in Richarlison-style showboating during his career, and offered a defence of the Tottenham forward.

The Brazilian made headlines during Spurs’ 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest by doing ‘keepie-uppies’ which got him clattered by two opposition players.

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Richarlison had come on as a 74th minute substitute and assisted Harry Kane for a goal that essentially ended the game, before deciding to juggle the ball near the touchline.

When possession returned to the £60million summer signing from Everton moments later, Forest forward Brennan Johnson came flying in and took a clear booking.

The likes of Jamie Carragher laid into Richarlison for his showboating, but Liverpool legend and talkSPORT co-host Souness had another view.

“As a manager you don’t want to see it, it’s not nice, but I’ve done it,” he candidly admitted.

“I’ve done it as a player but that’s only because there was something going on between me and a couple of their players or something.

“I think it happened more than once,” he jokingly added with a laugh.

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“But as a manager you don’t want to see it, it’s showing disrespect, but when you’re young and full of yourself, sometimes you forget what you’re instructed to do, I am guilty of that, hands up.

“It’s not brilliance, I go back to 1967, England, world champions, playing Scotland at Wembley, the great Jim Baxter did that so it’s not a new thing, and I think we won that day.

“100 per cent of the Spurs supporters yesterday would have liked it, a bit of arrogance, but you know it’s coming if you go down that road, if you can do it and take the consequences.

“But to a man every Spurs supporter in that stadium yesterday would have been thinking ‘look at us we’re back’ showing a bit of arrogance, if you aspire to be a big player you cannot aspire to be a big player without a bit of arrogance.”

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But is Richarlison a big player? “No, not in my eyes,” Souness added.

Richarlison was also defended by manager Antonio Conte post-match, and some questioned whether the punishment on Johnson could have been harsher.

However, Scottish footballing legend and three-time European Cup winner Souness said that you have to be prepared to face the consequences of showboating, with arrogance a powerful tool in an athlete’s armoury.

“I come back to the word entertainment,” he said. “We are in the entertainment business.

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“A lot of those people, especially the Spurs supporters, would have thought ‘great, good on you’ and all the Forest supporters would have hated that.

“It’s football, it’s young men who generally have egos that would choke horses and that’s the way it should be, they’re gifted.

“Muhammed Ali not arrogant? I don’t mind arrogance, I think arrogance can be a good thing, as long as you back it up.

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“I was arrogant, I didn’t set out to be arrogant but I know that being arrogant can make people look at you and diminish their confidence.

“I went down the road many times knowing there will be two or three in the opposition that will come looking for me but that’s part of the deal if you’re a professional footballer.

Asked about when he played Diego Maradona in Serie A, Souness said: “I think he was arrogant, yeah, he would flick the ball over the head and make you look absolutely stupid, he enjoyed that feeling.”