Last summer, Tottenham knew they had no use for Giovani Lo Celso, who, while a talented player and a part of the Argentina side that won Copa America, didn't seem to have a fit in Ange Postecoglou's plans as a rotational playmaker.
So Spurs went ahead and sold him back to Real Betis, where he was a standout before joining the North London-based outfit in 2020. It was an unorthodox deal, as Tottenham only sold him for roughly five million euros but got a special release clause to potentially sign young American center midfielder Johnny Cardoso in 2025 for 25 million euros.
Now, the reason for making the Lo Celso transfer at that rate is out the window entirely. Cardoso almost certainly isn't going to Tottenham this summer, because he wants to stay in LaLiga, preferably moving up from Betis to Atletico Madrid. It looks like Cardoso could make the move this summer as opposed to waiting next year, but even if he were to move next summer, the whole release clause would be moot to Tottenham since it's only eligible for 2025.
As if that weren't enough, at the time of the Lo Celso deal, there was a rumor that Tottenham also had a 50 percent sell-on clause that would be active if Betis sold Cardoso to anyone else but them, safeguarding Spurs from the player potentially exercising his own free will to, you know, NOT go to Tottenham at all.
Tottenham got nothing back for Giovani Lo Celso
Well, according to a report from Mateo Gonzalez of ABC Deportes in Seville, Tottenham don't actually have a 50 percent sell-on clause for Cardoso, as the 23-year-old midfielder rejected a move to North London outright.
So basically, Tottenham sold Lo Celso to Betis for five million euros and got nothing else back. No Cardoso at any price and no ability to generate further funds towards the Lo Celso sale from a Cardoso one.
It's yet another miscalculation on the transfer market, and while it's only about about an 11 million euro loss from Lo Celso's Transfermarkt valuation of 16 million at the time of the deal, it's basically free money they gave away. And it's a microcosm of how Tottenham shoot themselves in the foot with a lack of foresight that is manifested less obviously but more profoundly in the bigger, more complicated transfers than this one.
Lo Celso scored 8 goal with 3 assists in less than 1,500 LaLiga minutes for Real Betis last season, averaging a whopping 2.7 key passes, 1.3 dribbles completed, and 3.9 fouls drawn per 90 minutes - all actually more productive numbers than Tottenham's attacking players in 2024/25. Obviously, Lo Celso wasn't as good of a fit in the Premier League and wouldn't have been that productive for Spurs, nor do the overall numbers match the per 90 productivity due to injury.
Still, Lo Celso was clearly worth more than five million euros in a vacuum, and Tottenham got ripped off by focusing too much on what ifs and hypotheticals, failing to account for the simple fact that Cardoso's own volition would single-handedly render Tottenham's transfer profit null and void. It's another low and another harsh lesson that Spurs will, hopefully, learn on the market.