Real Betis defensive midfielder and USA international Johnny Cardoso has finalized his transfer to Atletico Madrid today. Cardoso remains in La Liga and becomes one of the USMNT’s most expensive players after his €24m transfer.
¡Bienvenido, Johnny Cardoso!
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) July 16, 2025
Acuerdo con el @RealBetis para el traspaso del internacional estadounidense, que firma por cinco temporadas con nuestro club. pic.twitter.com/UCk0kQIs7x
Depending on who you talk to, Tottenham Hotspur have either dodged a bullet or missed out on signing
a needed #6 in a race in which they were in pole position. You probably recall that in exchange for selling Giovani Lo Celso back to Betis, Tottenham received a priority option to sign Cardoso in the opening few weeks of the summer transfer window. However, Johnny was said to prefer signing with Atletico over a move to England, and Tottenham either decided not to pursue him or not to push the issue. It felt like a really good thing at the time Lo Celso was sold, but clearly it didn’t work out. C’est la vie.
There was some weird speculation at the time that Spurs would maintain a sell-on clause for Johnny in the event that he was sold to another club. That felt weird at the time that Tottenham could have a sell-on for a player they don’t even own. None of the reports I’ve read about this transfer have mentioned Spurs getting any money for him, so I have no idea whether that clause is a thing or not. Maybe it’ll come out eventually.
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