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Lee Hendrie believes Premier League sides would be "crazy" not to activate the reported £1.2m release clause in Japhet Tanganga's Millwall contract

Japhet Tanganga has a £1.2m release clause that is exclusively available for Premier League clubs to trigger.

This is according to Football Insider, and it's an update that may raise fears that Tanganga could be heading for the Millwall exit door this summer.

The 26-year-old defender enjoyed a stellar past season with Millwall after joining the Lions permanently last summer.

Tanganga made 40 appearances in the second-tier during the 2024/2025 campaign, winning an outstanding 233 duels at a 62.1% success rate, and 37 tackles - which equated to 66.1%.

These performances earned him Millwall's Player of the Season award - as he formed a strong partnership with Jake Cooper - helping the team to an eighth-placed finish, missing out on the play-offs by a narrow two points.

Newly-Promoted Premier League clubs urged to activate Japhet Tanganga's release clause

Sky Sports pundit and former player, Lee Hendrie, believes Premier League sides would be "crazy" not to activate the reported £1.2m release clause in Japhet Tanganga's Millwall contract this summer.

Speaking exclusively to FLW, Hendrie suggested newly-promoted clubs should be the ones lining up to activate the clause.

"Well, it’s absolutely nothing really when you think about it, with the fees that we see these days, but obviously he sees himself stepping back into the Premier League which - I’ve watched him at Millwall quite a lot - and you can see that he’s got that strength, that power," Hendrie said.

"To be fair he obviously backs himself to take that step up, but yes, i’d be very surprised if one of the newly-promoted clubs wouldn’t take a punt on him.

"I think it’d be crazy if they didn’t go and activate that release clause, he can definitely do a job for sure so it would not surprise me if that was in the summertime it happens."

Former Tottenham man could be set for top-flight return

Tanganga came through Tottenham Hotspur's youth system and made 27 Premier League appearances for the North London club before departing as a free agent at the end of the 2023/2024 season.

The centre-back is also experienced in European football - featuring in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League - during his time at Spurs.

After initially joining Millwall on loan during the second half of the season he was released in, Tanganga made the switch permanent that summer - in what was considered something of a coup for the Lions.

Given Tanganga's experience and clear ambitions to play in the top-flight again, newly-promoted sides Leeds United, Burnley, and Sunderland, will perhaps be looking at the low activation fee with some temptation in the coming months.