Tottenham could miss out on £21m long-term transfer target as Serie A side look to hijack deal in January

Tottenham Hotspur could miss out on signing Real Betis star Johnny Cardoso with AC Milan reportedly set to ‘hijack’ the deal.

The north London side sent forgotten man Giovani Lo Celso back to Real Betis on a Deadline Day deal and, as part of this deal Ange Postecoglou’s side reportedly have an intriguing option to buy on Cardoso, as was confirmed by the La Liga club’s president Angel Haro.

Recent reports have indicated that the option to buy price has currently been set at €25 million (£21m) and Spurs will have a two-week window in which they can trigger this deal in June 2025.

However, Calciomercato, via SportWitness, have reported that Spurs could risk losing out on the midfielder to AC Milan. The Serie A side are now set to be without their midfielder Ismael Bennacer for the rest of the year due to an injury and, as such, will likely be looking for a new midfielder in the winter transfer window.

20-year-old Cardoso has now been identified as one of the Rossoneri’s targets and, while it is said the midfielder had been hoping AC Milan would come calling in the summer, he is now set to once again be a hot topic at the San Siro stadium.

Calciomercato have included in their report that the Italian club have ‘every intention of initiating’ contacts with the American midfielder. While, the report does not take into account Spurs’ purchase option to buy Cardoso at the end of the season it is thought that this may well be due to the fact that Milan will hope to buy the midfielder in January.

Milan signed Emerson Royal from Spurs in the last window and as the right-back and midfielder share the same agent, there are indications that this could help the Rossoneri to seal the Real Betis star. However, it is also highly inevitable that Spurs will surely have secured a clause in which they can have a say in the 20-year-old’s January movements.

Born in New Jersey, but raised in Brazil, Joao ‘Johnny’ Cardoso was previously with the Brazilian club Internacional before moving to Betis in the January 2024 transfer window for a reported five-year contract worth around £5m. He has since made 19 La Liga appearances with Betis, scoring once, and he already has 17 international appearances to his name for the United States. Cardoso also holds an Italian passport which allows him to be registered as an EU player for European leagues.