The 21-year-old Portugal international midfielder joins us from West Ham United in a deal announced earlier this morning.
“I'm very happy, I'm very excited for this next step,” he told us. “Of course, it's a massive club. I already know the city, the country. I spoke with the manager. I think he was the main key for me to join Tottenham and the project. We will fight for Premier League. We will fight for the first place.”
A product of Sporting CP’s illustrious academy – graduates include former Spur, Eric Dier – Mateus will be a familiar face for fans after gaining valuable Premier League experience over the past two seasons after first impressing at Southampton – where he won Saints’ Player of the Season award in 2024/25 - and then with West Ham last term.
“Now, I'm more ready to be on this level, because when I joined Southampton, I was, my English was very bad,” Mateus reflected. “I just spoke Portuguese and Spanish and no one spoke Portuguese and Spanish there, it was just English. So, this helped me a lot.
“I was living alone, now I have my girlfriend, I have my family here. I'm stronger now, so I'm ready for the next steps. That's it, everything is about trying to improve.
“Now I'm going to the club with a different pressure, with maybe a different mentality. What I believe, what I can do - I believe in me. I know that I can improve the team and improve the club. I'm here to help the team, to help the manager and improve with him as well.
“I'm ready for this next step. I'm ready for this pressure. It's one thing that I work for. I'm very excited to play for a big club, for a manager that wants to win titles.”