Club president confirms Tottenham swoop for ‘extraordinary’ star, with deal teed up by exit

Real Betis president Angel Haro has announced that Tottenham Hotspur have reached an agreement to sign Johnny Cardoso in the future, with the 22-year-old also hailed for his ‘extraordinary’ displays.

Tottenham and Betis were involved in two deals during the recently completed summer transfer window. Giovani Lo Celso left Tottenham on a permanent basis to re-join Betis, for whom he previously registered 16 goals and six assists in 45 outings.

Tottenham originally paid £27.2million to sign the attacking midfielder from Betis, but they had to take a financial hit when letting him go.

Late on transfer deadline day, Spurs confirmed that Lo Celso had headed back to the Spanish club, with the move understood to be worth £10m.

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Spurs and Betis have a good relationship and this allowed Ange Postecoglou’s side to get first refusal on a rising La Liga star.

Spurs have the priority to sign 22-year-old Betis midfielder Cardoso. The USA international only joined Betis in January but has already established himself as an important player in their side.

On Sunday, it emerged that Spurs can sign Cardoso for €25-30m (£21-25m / US$27-33m).

Betis chief Haro has now spoken about both the Lo Celso and Cardoso transfers in an interview with Mundo Deportivo. He said: “Johnny is a player that interests not only Tottenham, but many other teams, he has a great projection.

Tottenham latest: Betis confirm Johnny Cardoso clause 

“In this case, within the Gio operation, they asked us for an option to buy for a value that for us was important and interesting and we gave them that option.”

Betis sporting director Manu Fajardo added: “Johnny’s performance is extraordinary. He’s going to bring a lot of joy to Beticismo. Tottenham has a purchase option in amounts that will satisfy Betis if they occur.”

European football expert Andy Brassell also gave his verdict on Cardoso over the weekend.

“The interesting thing is this [Lo Celso’s move] might help Tottenham negotiate an option, it seems, for Johnny Cardoso,” he said.

“Quite an interesting backstory, so he was born in the US to Brazilian parents but he moved back to Brazil when he was three or four months old. To all intents and purposes, he is a Brazilian player, he’s come through the system there before going over to Betis.

“Very popular, very energetic, you can imagine Cardoso working really well in the Premier League because he loves a tackle, he loves to get stuck in, so you can imagine him protecting that Tottenham defence going forward.”

Should Spurs activate their option to buy Cardoso, then the ex-Internacional star will compete with the likes of Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr, Archie Gray and Rodrigo Bentancur for a starting spot in midfield.

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