Tottenham move completed – why Mathys Tel was desperate to leave Bayern in January?

€30m valuation 

©IMAGO

The January transfer window has been relatively quiet in comparison to previous years, but arguably the biggest story on deadline day revolved around Bayern Munich striker Mathys Tel. The French forward was subject to a €60 million offer from Tottenham Hotspur but he turned down that opportunity. But in a dramatic U-turn, Tel has now joined Tottenham on a straight-loan deal until the end of the season in a major boost to injury-depleted Spurs. The deal also reportedly includes an option to buy for €55m + €5m in add-ons on a potential six-year contract. Tel will wear the number 11 shirt for Tottenham.

Tel made the move to Bayern in the summer of 2022 as something of an unknown quantity, when the Bundesliga giants paid €20 million to sign the striker after just 10 first team appearances for Stade Rennais. Based largely off the back of his performances at youth level, Tel was seen as a player for the future and as a result featured as little more than an impact sub in his first season in Germany. Over the course of 28 games the young striker averaged around 21 minutes per appearance, but still bagged a respectable six goals in all competitions. In the following season, Tel’s stature in the Bayern first team grew as his minutes more than doubled and the striker bagged 10 goals and six assists in 41 appearances. However, the player was still seen as a back-up to Bayern’s starting XI and in many cases was filling in for injured stars rather than nailing down a consistent role in the team. 

Indeed, over the course of the 23/24 season, Tel started just six league games and just one Champions League clash. Much of this was due to the fact that Harry Kane was Bayern’s undisputed striker, while the two wing positions were fiercely contested by the likes of Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sané and Jamal Musiala. That competition only got tougher this season, when Bayern forked out €53m to sign Michael Olise from Crystal Palace, after appointing a new head coach in Vincent Kompany who has largely overlooked Tel in his first team plans. To date, the French forward has started just two out of Bayern’s 19 league games and has come off the bench on just six occasions. As such, in many ways Tel is not only struggling to break into Bayern’s starting XI but now seems to be going backwards at the club this season.