Jose Mourinho tells all Premier League clubs exactly what they're getting in £1.2m Championship bargain

Jose Mourinho had told Premier League clubs what to expect from a potential £1.2 million Championship bargain.

Millwall defender Japhet Tanganga has a £1.2 million release clause in his contract, which is believed to only be available to Premier League clubs, according to reports.

Tanganga, who made 50 senior appearances for Tottenham Hotspur, initially joined Millwall on loan in January 2024.

He moved to The Den on a permanent basis the following summer and went on to make 40 appearances during the 2024-25 season, helping Millwall to an eight-place finish, narrowly missing out on the play-offs.

After an impressive campaign, the 26-year-old was named Millwall Supporters' Club 2024-25 Player of the Season. And with such a low release clause it is no surprise that Premier League are expected to come for his signature.

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What did Mourinho say about Tanganga?

Mourinho handed the Englishman his Premier League debut in January 2020 as Spurs lost 1-0 to Liverpool

The Portuguese boss said: “Can we say Tanganga is a new player? He had never played a match for Tottenham in the Premier League. Today he played and today he proved that he can play for us

“It’s a pity that he’s not a striker! It’s a pity that he’s not a midfield player, but he is one more player that we have.

“I think Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, they know who Tanganga is now. They didn’t know before the game. I think when they saw the list, they thought, ‘Oh, what position does this guy play?’

“I think now they know. The kid was really good."

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Tanganga's attitude praised

Tanganga made 13 appearances during the 2019/20 season and replicated that tally in the following campaign.

In April 2021, ahead of Tottenham's Premier League clash with Newcastle, Mourinho once again praised the Spurs academy graduate

“When we need he is there and when we need sometimes he is a right-back, as a left-back, other times in a centre-back in a defence of three," he said.

“I don’t think it is a bad thing, especially for a young player, because what a young player needs is minutes and as a player I had many years ago, from right-back to left wing, ‘I am ready for you’ and as an emergency as a goalkeeper, so Japhet is a little bit like this.

“In spite of him being good in the air and he has a good positional education as a centre-back, I think probably his best position in the future is right-back. As you know he is not a giant, he needs to improve, his crossing needs to improve, the timings to arrive in attacking positions, but he is comfortable with the ball, he doesn’t make many mistakes, he is solid, reads the game well and is a player we can trust.

“You can see his debut was against Liverpool and then the matches he played are normally matches of responsibility and quality of the opponent.

"He is a player we trust. He is developing quite well, good kid. Humble kid, so all good.”