Tottenham Hotspur were quiet on transfer deadline day but did tee up a potential signing for the future under Ange Postecoglou.
Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer window has divided opinion.
Some are happy with the talent brought in with Tottenham adding the likes of Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert.
Tottenham continue to focus on signings for the future and some are left disappointed with the lack of instant-impact additions.
For instance, Tottenham surely needed to add another holding midfield player after allowing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to join Marseille.
That didn’t happen but Tottenham have set up a deal for a potential defensive midfield addition down the line.
United States verdict on Johnny Cardoso
Tottenham struck two agreements with Real Betis on transfer deadline.
The first saw Giovani Lo Celso complete a return to Betis having failed to live up to expectations at Tottenham.
The second involved Betis midfielder Johnny Cardoso.
Tottenham accepted a lower fee from Betis for Lo Celso in order to negotiate an option to sign midfielder Cardoso in 2025.
Spurs can sign Cardoso for around £21million next summer, or pass up the option and move on.
The 22-year-old has impressed for Betis since joining from Internacional in January 2024, and he is now on international duty with the United States.
Cardoso started in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Canada but was substituted just past the hour mark.
Cardoso didn’t exactly impress though with Goal suggesting that he was one of the major losers from the defeat.
Goal suggested that Cardoso was simply too sloppy on the ball and kept giving the ball away – even sparking a goal for Canada.
They added that Cardoso clearly ‘isn’t ready’ for a big role in the USA midfield, believing that he ultimately failed his audition.
“There are certain things you simply can’t get away with at the top, top level. Giveaways are chief among them. Cardoso had too many, to put it lightly, and they cost the USMNT early.
“Cardoso was far, far too loose on the ball early on in a game that was essentially an audition for a bigger midfield role. On this evidence, though, he isn’t ready for that. This team simply can’t afford to have a player hand the other team possession in dangerous areas time and time again.
“Cardoso had a big giveaway early, leading to a Patrick Schulte save. Fine, it happens. He didn’t learn from it, though. It was his heavy touch that led directly to Jacob Shaffelburg’s goal. It was a mistake that cost his team dearly, and one that true top-level midfielders rarely ever make,” they wrote.
- READ MORE: Tottenham confirmed signings, transfer ins and outs, loans and releases for 2024 summer window
USA boss on Cardoso
That doesn’t sound too encouraging.
If Cardoso isn’t ready for a bigger role in the USA national team right now, he may not be ready to come into the Tottenham side either.
The Premier League is an incredibly tough league and Cardoso may simply not be ready at this stage in his development.
That may come down the line but Tottenham will be watching his every move this season ahead of a possible arrival in 2025.
Cardoso will soon be coached by Mauricio Pochettino as the former Spurs boss prepares to take of the United States.
Interim boss Mikey Varas has told Goal that he thinks Cardoso needs to take a step forward in his game.
Varas believes that Cardoso must improve in terms of his speed of play and how he processes the game, believing that he will be disappointed with his display against Canada.
“Johnny now needs to take that step,” Varas said. “He needs to take that step in terms of improving speed of play and processing…Johnny will be disappointed, I think, with his game at the end of the day, Johnny tried to do what I asked him to do, and I take part of the responsibility for that as well.”
It’s a long season and Cardoso has endured a slightly slow start to the season having been on the Betis bench to open the League One campaign.
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