Get (potentially, in the future) excited, USA Men’s National Team fans — according to Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham Hotspur are trying to get an “in” for American and Real Betis defensive midfielder Johnny Cardoso as part of negotiations to sell Giovani Lo Celso.
⚪️ EXCLUSIVE: Tottenham are closing in on deal to agree on priority option to sign Johnny Cardoso from Real Betis in the future!#THFC will also buy a percentage on future sale in case they decide against signing him.
⚪️ It’s part of the deal for Gio Lo Celso to Betis. pic.twitter.com/lfLd2TDJmq
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 30, 2024
Cardoso, 22, is one of Betis’ crown jewels in their current squad, and has 15 caps for the USMNT. He profiles as a defensive midfielder — a (gasp) No. 6 — and his tackle numbers jump right off of his FBRef profile. In fact, they look kinda ridiculous. Cardoso would also be hugely exciting to American soccer fans and would likely draw a few more eyeballs Tottenham Hotspur’s way.
Notably, this isn’t a signing, but would exist as a promise from Betis to give Spurs a chance to match any offer that might come in for Cardoso, should he ever be sold, and also put Tottenham at the front of the line to sign him outright. UPDATE: Spurs are also attempting to purchase a future sell-on clause for Cardoso, so if he ends up going for stupid money somewhere that isn’t Tottenham, they’ll still have a cut of that transfer coming to them financially. Pretty smart.
The Giovani Lo Celso to Betis deal has been kinda fraught, and supposedly there’s a pretty substantial gulf in what Betis are offering compared to what Tottenham are demanding. So this might be one way of using “creative accounting” to bridge that gap — getting in the front of the line for a young and potentially excellent No. 6 in the future might be worth a few million Euros in the short term, if they can work out a deal.
Probably a lot more to come on this as the day goes on, but I thought it was interesting.
