Sport Witness

On deadline day, Tottenham Hotspur agreed a deal to sell Giovani Lo Celso to Real Betis.

Prior to the agreement, we covered claims from Spain which stated Spurs have acquired future rights on Johnny Cardoso, as part of the deal for Lo Celso.

Real Betis president Ángel Haro has now confirmed Tottenham’s interest and also their option to buy the 22-year-old. He revealed this during Natan’s presentation on Monday, and his comments are relayed by Mundo Deportivo.

“Johnny is a player that interests not only Tottenham, but many other teams, he has a great projection,” he said.

“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.”

Haro hasn’t revealed the fee Tottenham have to pay to buy the midfielder. According to Mundo Deportivo, the price is around €25m, and it can only be exercised during a two-week window in June 2025.

They add the American’s sale to Spurs could provide Manuel Pellegrini’s side liquidity to make Vitor Roque’s [on loan from Barcelona] stay permanent at the end of this season.

Real Betis sporting director Manu Fajardo has also confirmed Tottenham’s purchase option to buy the midfielder.

“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,” Fajardo explained, relayed by ABC Sevilla.

Cardoso arrived at Real Betis in January and signed a contract until 2029. He has made four appearances for Manuel Pellegrini’s side this season.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Bryan Gil failed to enjoy regular minutes under Ange Postecoglou’s orders last season. Back in July, he joined Girona on a season-long loan deal and has clocked in 341 minutes from four games so far.

The winger has started his spell at Girona on a bright note. Last month, the Spanish press stated the winger has adapted in a ‘phenomenal way’ at the La Liga side.

Last week, the Tottenham man scored his first goal for Girona against CA Osasuna. He played 89 minutes in their 2-0 win over Sevilla at the weekend.

According to Estadio Deportivo, Girona manager Míchel feels the Spain international, Iván Martín and Viktor Tsyhankov want to feature in every game, even ‘when they are not at 100%’.

“We were lacking a bit of speed, especially when it came to making the clearances inside,” he said, as relayed by Estadio Deportivo. “We have told the players this but it’s a way of working that they have internalised but it’s true that today, I don’t know if it is because of the heat, because they have played three days ago, but the players, sometimes, are very selfish. Today I have the feeling that not having made changes, people were very tired, and we lacked energy.

“That’s noticeable in the depth… because that’s when you have to get that 100% in pace and today, I didn’t see it in Víctor, I didn’t see it in Bryan Gil, I didn’t see it in Iván, but hey, we competed well.”

The Tottenham owned player failed to score a goal or register an assist against his former club on Sunday. Estadio Deportivo still claim the 23-year-old was the ‘MVP against Sevilla’.

Gil spent nine years at the Andalusian club before leaving them for Spurs in 2021. The Girona boss knew very well that the clash against Sevilla was “special” for the Spaniard.

“He’s a player that we were already talking about last year about the possibility of him helping us, this year he really wanted to come. You can see that he is very focused, and I have the feeling that he is very comfortable,” Míchel explained.

“So, we just ask that those physical data you have become numbers that have already made a goal, have made an assist and we want that to go further.”

This means Míchel wants the attacker to improve his statistics at Girona.

Tottenham Hotspur earned around €15m from the sale of Emerson Royal to AC Milan.

The Brazilian was expected to come in as a rotation option for the struggling Davide Calabria, although not everyone around the Serie A club was convinced by the deal.

Emerson made his first start for the Rossoneri in a draw against Lazio at the weekend, and endured a pretty bad beginning. Both of Lazio’s goals came from the right-back’s side and he is already taking quite a bit off stick from Milan fans.

MilanNews have looked at Emerson’s performance at the weekend, referring to him as ‘one of the worst players on the pitch’. They believe that things didn’t go well for Emerson, as they go on to look at the ratings that newspapers gave to the full-back.

They cite Gazzetta dello Sport rating him at 5, mentioning that the ex-Barcelona man ran out of gas in the second half.

MilanNews themselves give the 25-year-old a rating of 5, with Corriere dello Sport giving him a 5.5.

There’s a chance here that some of those who weren’t convinced about signing Emerson from Tottenham in the first place and jumping too quickly to throw opinions at him, as it is very early days for the Brazilian.

Tottenham Hotspur earned around €15m from the sale of Emerson Royal to AC Milan.

The Brazilian was expected to come in as a rotation option for the struggling Davide Calabria, although not everyone around the Serie A club was convinced by the deal.

Emerson made his first start for the Rossoneri in a draw against Lazio at the weekend, and endured a pretty bad beginning. Both of Lazio’s goals came from the right-back’s side and he is already taking quite a bit off stick from Milan fans.

MilanNews have looked at Emerson’s performance at the weekend, referring to him as ‘one of the worst players on the pitch’.

They believe that things didn’t go well for Emerson, as they go on to look at the ratings that newspapers gave to the full-back.

They cite Gazzetta dello Sport rating him at 5, mentioning that the ex-Barcelona man ran out of gas in the second half.

MilanNews themselves give the 25-year-old a rating of 5, with Corriere dello Sport giving him a 5.5.

There’s a chance here that some of those who weren’t convinced about signing Emerson from Tottenham in the first place and jumping too quickly to throw opinions at him, as it is very early days for the Brazilian.

Last month, Tottenham Hotspur allowed Alejo Véliz to join Espanyol on a season-long loan deal.

The striker joined Tottenham from Rosario Central in August 2023 and clocked in 45 minutes from eight games for Spurs. He then moved to Sevilla on loan in January, where he managed 31 minutes from six matches.

Ange Postecoglou didn’t include Véliz in his plans this season, resulting in Tottenham letting him go out on loan to Espanyol.

AS say the 20-year-old’s ‘path in Europe hasn’t been easy’, but he’s ‘happy again’ at Espanyol.

At the weekend, he scored the winner in the 96th minute against Rayo Vallecano, to help the club secure their first win of the season.

The Spanish club and their manager, Manolo González, conveyed their ‘trust and faith’ in the Tottenham man, before his arrival. He had a difficult year since joining Tottenham and made this clear after scoring his first goal for Espanyol.

“It was a very big relief. I’ve come from a year in which I have not had a good time in terms of football. I want to thank my family, my girlfriend who always supported me,” he said, quoted by AS.

“To the coaching staff for giving me the chance to come here, to my teammates and to all these people for always supporting us.”

The goal against Rayo Vallecano was his second since arriving in Europe a year ago.

“It was something that I had been looking for, that I wasn’t getting. I had a thorn in my side. Goals are very important for strikers,” Véliz explained.

“I made up my mind that maybe it’s just a streak, that the goal wasn’t opening up for me, but I was thinking about contributing as much as I could to the team. I knew the goal was going to come, it came today and hopefully many more to come.”

Despite playing just games, AS say Espanyol and Véliz feel that he has ‘found his place’ at the Spanish club. González trusts him and his teammates are ‘amazed’ with his finishing in training.

The report adds the Tottenham owned player has already made the Espanyol fans forget about last season’s star, Martin Braithwaite. He scored 22 goals and left as a free agent in the summer.

Tottenham’s Sergio Reguilón will continue to assess his options after failing to secure a move away from the club on deadline day.

That’s according to AS, who say the full-back finds himself in a ‘labyrinth’ at Tottenham after failing to find an exit on the final day of the window.

The market has now closed, and the Spaniard did not leave Tottenham, leaving him in an awkward situation as he is not registered in the Premier League or Europa League squads. He has to find a solution to his future, with everything indicating he would find a new club at some point this summer but that not happening before the window closed.

His options are now limited as the top five leagues in Europe have now closed their windows. That leaves Reguilón looking to at options such as Portugal, Türkiye or Saudi Arabia.

At this point the defender’s future ‘remains undefined’, with him clearly not in Tottenham’s plans but with no interest from other clubs at this moment in time.

A departure somewhere is considered a ‘foregone conclusion’ at this point, it’s just a question of where and when as the options dwindle following deadline day.

On Friday, Tottenham Hotspur confirmed that they have reached an agreement with Real Betis for the transfer of Giovani Lo Celso.

Real Betis president Ángel Haro García had a chat with the local reporters, relayed by Diario de Sevilla. He revealed the 28-year-old could arrive in Spain today, to complete the transfer from Tottenham to the La Liga side.

The Argentina international will carry out the medical tests with Real Betis in the next few hours. He will then join the national team for the upcoming international break.

“Yes, the idea is that he will probably travel tomorrow [Saturday], although he also has a commitment with the national team, he will have to leave again with his national team, but well, we can enjoy a bit of time,” he said.

The La Liga side were in the market for a new midfielder, after Nabil Fekir decided to leave them from UAE based side Al Jazira. The president claims his side had a “great challenge” to replace the Frenchman.

Real Betis identified Lo Celso and Real Madrid’s Dani Ceballos as the main targets, before deciding to bet on the South American.

When the reporters quizzed the president whether the former Arsenal man was on an option, he revealed why his side decided to sign Lo Celso.

“Well, we had two or three top options open, for us these options were the ones you are talking about as a very good option, and then we finally opted for Gio,” Ángel Haro García explained.

“Well, they are options that open, each market has its particularity, in this case it seemed that a window was opening, but as I said, we also had another window and other open players.”

“I would like to talk about the players we have, the issue of Dani could have been a possibility, but I am very satisfied with Gio, a great player, we already know him at the club and we have to focus on giving him love and he surely gives us great joy.”

Spurs initially took Lo Celso on loan from Real Betis in 2019 and made his stay permanent in January 2020. The midfielder scored 10 goals and registered eight assists from 108 games for Tottenham.

Both Marca and ABC Sevilla are reporting Tottenham and Real Betis have come to an agreement for the transfer of Giovani Lo Celso.

The Seville club have long wanted to take the player back but developments this week, the failure to get Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid and seeing Nabil Fekir leaving, have meant a serious step forward for the Argentina international.

Marca report the two clubs are ‘currently finalising an agreement’. They state Betis advanced talks by offering €5m for 50% of Lo Celso (so Spurs would get 50% of a future sale), and future rights on Johnny Cardoso.

They believe that would see Tottenham being able to get him at a set price or receive a percentage if he went elsewhere, but the details from Marca are sketchy on that.

Over at ABC Sevilla they say there’s an ‘agreement in principle’ for Lo Celso to return to Betis for €5m, plus a preferential right on a future transfer of Cardoso.

Whilst the deal isn’t completed, it’s insisted there’s confidence at Betis that it will be.

On Thursday, we covered claims from Spain which stated Real Betis only wanted to sign Giovani Lo Celso from Tottenham if he was available on a free transfer.

Presumably, they wanted to Spurs to cancel the final months of his contract, sort out any financial issues between the two parties, and then send him to Seville as a free agent.

Marca now have it slightly differently, which may be related to a failed move for Dani Ceballos. Betis had been trying to sign the Real Madrid midfielder but any hope of a transfer fell apart in the final days of the window.

Therefore, it’s stated Betis have made a €6m offer to Tottenham for Lo Celso. They’re currently awaiting a response from Spurs regarding that offer.

PSV Eindhoven’s Olivier Boscagli could get a move to a club like Tottenham Hotspur if he were to give up on Brighton & Hove Albion today.

That’s at least what Voetbal Primeur journalist Dennie van Laar claims, and his quotes are relayed by PSV Fans.

Van Laar believes the likes of Tottenham, Napoli and Atlético Madrid could come forward to sign him in 2025. Therefore, he should snub Brighton and continue at the Eredivisie side.

The centre-back has less than a year left on his contract. Earlier claims have stated he absolutely wants to join Brighton before the window closes later today, but PSV rejected their €10m bid.

On Thursday, Eindhovens Dagblad reported the Seagulls would make an improved bid to sign the 26-year-old, but PSV have decided not to let him leave in this window. Van Laar insists Tottenham could be one of the options, if he were to be available on a free transfer in 2025.

“But he can also just wait, because you will soon be a free agent. Then you really laugh your head off. You can then sign for Napoli, Atlético Madrid or Spurs. I’m really convinced of that,” he said.

“If he stays fit now, he will sign with a big bag of signing money [signing on bonus] at a dream club next year with a smile. I wouldn’t go completely crazy about Brighton.”

It’s to be noted there hasn’t been any concrete claims yet of Tottenham showing interest in the Brighton target. Van Laar is suggesting that Boscagli could join Spurs or two other clubs next summer, if he decides to continue at PSV this season.