Tottenham clearly have several pressing weaknesses in their side after finishing the 2024/25 Premier League season in 17th placed, and their biggest issues seem to lie at the heart of the team in the middle of the park.
Although Tottenham have an excellent playmaker in James Maddison and a burgeoning young box-to-box talent in Lucas Bergvall, they will still need more help in the summer 2025 transfer market in order to field a midfield that is both competitive at the Premier League and Champions League level. That is especially true if Spurs decide to sell players like Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur.
According to GiveMeSport transfer insider Dean Jones in a post on Patreon, Tottenham are trying to get two key midfield transfers over the finish line, in addition to purchasing Mathys Tel permanently from Bayern Munich.
Tottenham can sign one of them for free
Those two midfield moves are Lille free agent playmaker Angel Gomes and Real Betis box-to-box star Johnny Cardoso. As part of the transfer that sent Argentinian playmaker Giovani Lo Celso back to Betis, Spurs received a special clause to sign Cardoso for 25 million euros for this summer only.
If Tottenham can manage to sign Cardoso, that would be especially huge. He's been one of the best young midfielders in LaLiga over the past two seasons, and the American could be a great fit for Tottenham defensively and athletically, offering a more robust profile to the current crop of Tottenham midfielders.
So far, most of the transfer updates on Cardoso haven't been positive for Tottenham, as there is a real risk that the American standout decides to stay in Seville for the 2025/26 season before leaving for a "bigger" club like Atletico Madrid or even Manchester United in summer 2026.
Meanwhile, Gomes seems to be a battle for Tottenham to lose against Manchester United, with Spurs evidently pushing as hard as anyone to sign the talented Englishman who once had eight assists in a Ligue 1 season a couple of years ago.
Depending on the wages for Gomes, he could be a decent deal, though he isn't as much of a slam dunk or as good all-around as Cardoso. These are two affordable transfers who offer different profiles and can start some games for Tottenham next season.
A combined 25 million euros for Cardoso and Gomes would be nifty additions to bolster the Spurs midfield, though they aren't definitive nor remotely world-class solutions to Tottenham's gaping midfield issues.