One of the weirder outcomes from Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer window was the €4m+bonuses+sell-on-clause deal that sent Giovani Lo Celso back to Real Betis. It was clear the clubs were far apart on their valuation of the player (or at least what Betis was willing/able to pay) so head of recruitment Johan Lange resorted to his bag of creative accounting books to eke out some additional value down the road.
That came in part from the performance bonuses and 35% sell-on clause in Betis’ contract, but it also resulted in a fairly novel (for English football) deal where Spurs now have a priority window to sign Betis defensive midfielder and USA international Johnny Cardoso. There were conflicting reports emerging about this deal on deadline day, but now Mike McGrath in the Telegraph has new details about the Cardoso deal, and what could happen if Spurs choose (or choose not to) sign him.
In short, McGrath confirmed the Cardoso option via comments from Betis president Ángel Haro. The deal is as follows: Spurs have a priority option that lasts for two weeks next summer whereby they will be able to purchase Cardoso for a fee of £21m. Should they decide NOT to sign him, other clubs will be available to make an offer for Cardoso when that two week window closes.
NOT reported in McGrath’s writeup is a reported sell-on clause in Cardoso’s contract whereby Tottenham would receive a percentage of money from Johnny’s sale if he DOESN’T move to Spurs. That was initially reported in the lead-up to the agreement, but it feels a touch weird — it’s undoubtedly a fantastic deal whereby Spurs would get future money from a Cardoso sale despite not actually owning the player, but I’m not seeing any confirmation post-window close of that clause existing. I’m now wondering if the reporting conflated Lo Celso’s sell-on with this hypothetical one for Cardoso. I’ll keep looking.
Cardoso, 22, is probably Betis’ most saleable asset and if he’s even remotely good or has the potential to be a lock-down 6 for Tottenham, paying £21m for him could be an incredible deal next summer. The end result is that Spurs may have taken a short term haircut on Lo Celso’s transfer value, but could be in a position to make a net profit on him in other ways that could be much more valuable than an extra €5-8m immediately.