Tottenham Hotspur and Real Bettis have agreed on a permanent deal that send Giovani Lo Celso back to the Spanish side. Lo Celso spent a season long loan at Real Betis, back he was a PSG player (in 2018) before joining Spurs on a loan to buy deal in the summer window of 2019.
⚪️ Gio Lo Celso to Real Betis, here we go! Deal completed with Tottenham for Argentinian midfielder to return.
Move completed with Jhonny Cardoso as part of the agreement, as exclusively revealed. pic.twitter.com/hojuieRcUE
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 30, 2024
Details about the transfer are emerging. There were earlier reports that Betis submitted a €6m fee, well short of the €30m Spurs were asking for, and the clubs started to reach towards the “creative accounting” to bridge the gap.
Which leads us to this: as previously reported, Tottenham have arranged a deal with Betis for the future sale of USMNT defensive midfielder Johnny Cardoso. This is slightly tweaked from earlier reports. But, according to The Athletic’s Tom Bogert, Spurs and Betis basically have already hammered out a €30m deal for Cardoso if and when Spurs ever decide to trigger it.
Sources: Tottenham and Real Betis have agreed to a pre-arranged fixed fee for USMNT midfielder Johnny Cardoso if/when Spurs want to trigger it to sign Cardoso in the future. @FabrizioRomano 1st.
The fixed fee is of $33m (€30m), sources tell @JacobsBen and me. pic.twitter.com/QEwx83axVt
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) August 30, 2024
So why this now and not next summer? Not clear, but it’s probably that Betis simply doesn’t want to or can’t afford to sell Cardoso now, but would be willing to take the money next summer or whenever Spurs decide they want to pull the trigger. There’s also a future sell-on clause in the event that Spurs DON’T want to sign Cardoso, so either way whenever he moves on from Betis Spurs will get some money. It’s pretty shrewd, actually.
As for Lo Celso, it’s clear he did not have a future at Tottenham Hotspur with Ange Postecoglou saying in a press conference today that he would not be integrated into the team if he stays. So this would be a good deal for all involved. He leaves Spurs for much less than he’s worth, but it’s better than keeping him around and letting him leave on a free.
That 2019 transfer window was so exciting at the time and turned to be such a clusterf—k. I’m glad it’s over and we can finally move on from that era at Spurs. As for Gio, I always liked him and hope he does well.
Hasta la vista, Gio. Try not to injure Cuti in Argentina training.
