When Mathys Tel said goodbye to the Bayern Munich fans a good year ago, emotion got the better of him. He spoke of the club as a “beloved person” from whom he now had to part. He said he had “loved” every minute he was allowed to be on the pitch for such a big club and that Munich would “always be in my heart”.
Tel’s love for Bayern Munich did not come out of nowhere. The German record champions paid 20 million euros to Stade Rennes for the then 17-year-old in 2022. That was an enormous show of faith, but it also piled huge pressure on a highly talented striker who was still very young. He handled it well.
The Frenchman quickly established himself as an extremely useful impact sub in Bayern’s star-studded squad and soon became a fans’ favourite. In his first season, around 450 minutes were enough for him to score six goals in the Bundesliga and DFB Cup. The following year, he produced ten goals and six assists in “just” 1,226 competitive minutes.
Mathys Tel on the fringes at Bayern Munich after Kompany’s arrival
Tel looked like the future, but under new coach Vincent Kompany he managed only 458 minutes and not a single goal involvement in 14 competitive matches up to the winter, so something had to change. Tel wrestled with that step for a long time and in December still told Bayern’s decision-makers around Kompany and sporting director Max Eberl that he wanted to establish himself and had no wish to seek a loan move.
Eberl and Kompany had quite clearly recommended a loan move to the Frenchman, but they accepted the struggling youngster’s decision. Then, at the end of January, Tel changed his mind, a move Eberl was not entirely happy with.
“We will see whether we can find a solution. Time is pressing,” said a somewhat irritated Eberl just a few minutes after Tel, following the Champions League match against Slovan Bratislava, had said goodbye to the Bayern fans with expansive gestures on something like a lap of honour. Mind you, without there being anything concrete to report.
Still, the scenes on that cold January evening hit home. The then 19-year-old Frenchman walked alone across the Allianz Arena pitch while all his team-mates had long since disappeared down the tunnel. Tel applauded, waved, applauded. Then he headed once more towards the Sudkurve. There he high-fived some supporters, posed for photos and chatted briefly. He handed his jacket to a fan hanging shirtless over the barrier.
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Getty ImagesMathys Tel moves from Bayern Munich to Tottenham and comes under immediate criticism
“The solution” that Eberl still had to find for Tel emerged a few days later after plenty of back and forth in the shape of a loan move to Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs are said to have paid Bayern ten million euros in fees for the short-term deal. The London club were in a deep crisis at the time, sat only 15th in the league and were urgently looking for an alternative to star striker Dominic Solanke, who had previously missed the entire first half of the season due to ankle surgery.
Contrary to Bayern’s wishes, Spurs agreed a high purchase option of 60 million euros rather than an obligation to buy. That is also said to have happened at Tel’s insistence, as he wanted to keep the door open for a return to FCB and decide his long-term future for himself.
After arriving at a still struggling Spurs, Tel found it tough. His goal on his debut in the FA Cup, from which Tottenham were then immediately eliminated, was followed by a long dry spell. He did not score again until April, when he came off the bench. Before that, The Standard and The Sun had already labelled him “hopelessly ineffective” and “disappointing”.
Spurs were disappointing too for large parts of the rest of the season. Only because the three relegated sides Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton were even worse could they avoid the catastrophe of dropping into the Championship. In the end, there was even an unexpected happy ending in the Europa League final. Instead of playing in the Championship, a side that was already dysfunctional at the time and toothless in attack suddenly found itself in the Champions League.
Getty ImagesBayern Munich in retrospect pulled off an outstanding transfer deal with Mathys Tel
Yet Tel had virtually no part in that at all, with no goal and only 209 minutes in the entire EL knockout phase, and Spurs still agreed a permanent transfer for the France Under-21 international with Bayern last summer, with his prospects of playing time in Munich having shrunk to a minimum because of Michael Olise’s outstanding debut season and the arrival of Luis Diaz. The record champions received another 35 million euros for Tel and, in retrospect, did outstanding business.
His second season in London never really took off either. However, the meagre return of only four goals in 37 competitive matches needs some context. Spurs looked an even more alarming sight once again than in Tel’s first half-year. Tottenham only saved themselves from relegation on the final matchday and went through two managers on the way there in Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor. Only the arrival of the hothead Roberto De Zerbi ultimately turned things around for Spurs.
Tottenham Hotspur experience a crazy summer transfer window: only Chelsea spent more
In response to two catastrophic Premier League seasons, the club launched an unbelievable transfer offensive this summer. They completely overhauled central midfield for almost 220 million euros through the signings of Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes. On top of that, Savinho and Omar Marmoush arrived from Manchester City as two new rivals for Tel, Savinho for a mere 87 million euros, Marmoush on loan with an obligation to buy worth 55 to 60 million euros. Chelsea loanee Mykhailo Mudryk adds another attacking option.
Spurs have spent 354 million euros so far this summer, a figure surpassed worldwide only by the ever transfer-obsessed Manchester City (526 million) and Chelsea FC (406 million). The return on those lavish investments, though, has so far remained limited. Put another way, after just two league matches, the alarm bells are already ringing again at Spurs.
Apart from a thumping 5-1 win over Charlton Athletic in the second round of the League Cup, the attack rebuilt for so much money has exactly zero goals in the Premier League, while the defence once again looked alarming, especially in the opener against Brentford (0-3).
Mathys Tel mocked by his own fans after unfortunate incident
For some, that applies to Tel as well. The 21-year-old may still hold down a regular place on the left wing under De Zerbi despite the high-profile new signings, but an early breakthrough this season has eluded him too. Quite the opposite. In the 0-2 defeat at the weekend against Newcastle United, Tel even became a laughing stock when, with the score at 0-1 in the 68th minute, he stepped up to take a promising free-kick, slipped slightly and smashed the ball into absolute nowhere.
Furious and almost desperate, he then thumped the turf before his team-mates helped him up and tried to lift him. Meanwhile, his own fans responded with mocking applause and whistles. Only a few moments later, he was substituted. A scene of symbolic character, as former Spurs player Jamie O’Hara (56 matches, seven goals, five assists for Tottenham) judged.
“That is one of the worst free-kicks I have ever seen,” he blasted in a live reaction on talkSPORT during the game: “He is just not good enough. I don’t know why everyone pretends he is a decent player – he is absolutely awful!”
Tel was not the only one to come in for criticism, though. O’Hara also took aim at De Zerbi, for instance because Pedro Porro was playing on the right wing, and at Savinho, who had to sit out after only 20 minutes in the League Cup because of muscle problems.
Again, though, it was the disappointing Tel who sat at the centre of the criticism after winning only one of his six duels and none of his dribbles. In England, calls have long been growing louder for Tel to be sold and replaced as a matter of urgency. According to reports, however, coach De Zerbi sees things differently.
De Zerbi is said to have told Tel in no uncertain terms that he wants to rely on him, despite the increased competition. Even so, Tel apparently cannot feel entirely secure. Most recently, Tottenham are said to have made an approach for Cody Gakpo on the transfer market, only to be rejected by the Liverpool player. The Dutchman, meanwhile, is said to have given his word to Manchester City.
The question marks around Tel are growing ever larger as to whether he really has the level to succeed at an ostensibly big club like Tottenham. If he does not prove that soon, he may have to formulate farewell words again as early as the winter. It is questionable, though, whether they would then be as emotional as they once were at Bayern Munich.
Getty ImagesMathys Tel: performances and statistics at Bayern Munich, Stade Rennes and Tottenham
Club
Matches
Goals
Assists
Minutes played
Bayern Munich
83
16
7
2.464
Tottenham Hotspur
61
7
4
3.181
Stade Rennes
10
–
–
81