Mathys Tel - how does he fit in at Spurs? | OneFootball

Late on last night, the 3rd of February, Tottenham Hotspur officially announced the signing of Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel, on a six month loan deal, with an option to make the deal permanent in the summer, should the club and player both wish to do so.

Let's take a look at how Tel could fit into this current Spurs side

The Frenchman is a versatile player, whom can play on either wing or up front. In truth, it is still unbeknownst to most where his best position is - but at such a young age, that is not necessarily a glaring issue.

Last season, Tel scored seven goals and provided five assists in just 1040 Bundesliga minutes - which equates to around 11.5 full games. In the 22/23 Bundesliga season, he scored five goals in 408 minutes, which is under five full games worth of minutes. Good numbers, though they should be caveated by the small sample size.

During the 23/24 campaign, the teenager scored three league goals playing off the right hand side, two as a split striker, and one as a lone striker. His two Champions League goals came off the bench from the left hand side. So, he is capable of scoring goals regardless of the forward position he plays in.

So, in short, he definitely has the capabilities of playing anywhere across the forward line for Spurs. However, when we look at fit in terms of style of play under Ange Postecoglou, there are interesting parralells with Vincent Kompany.

Realistically, Tel was never going to play up front over Harry Kane. That isn't a crime. The issue was, although he can play out wide - he is not a winger. If he is playing off the left or right, he is what you would call an 'inside forward'. The problem for him was Kompany likes to use touchline wingers, with his full-backs inverting.

Which sounds exactly like Ange. You don't, ideally, want Tel on the touchline. You want him coming in off the wings, getting close to goal, and linking up with the centre-forward. In very brief spells, we saw moments of that with Kane at Bayern last season. It is something that could happen with Solanke when he is back fit, but will Ange want that?

We have seen Ange use full-backs in more of a "traditional" sense recently, so perhaps there is scope for Tel playing more inside off the wing, but we will see. For now, you can see Ange using him as a striker, at least until Solanke is back. Richarlison has done a serviceable job, but looked pretty spent against Brentford, having started three games in a row for the first time in a long, long while.

Unfortunately, you never know how close he will be to an injury either, so it is important to manage him. Aside from up front, there does also feel like there is a fair possibility we will see Tel play off the right hand side in the front three.

With the 19-year old being right footed, at least off the right he would be able to hold width on his stronger side. This would allow Dejan Kulusevski to move back into midfield, where we could see the Swede play those through balls to Tel to set him away down the right. From those sorts of angles, he will be able to get shots off across goal.

Ange is not going to drop Son from the left wing. He could rest him, but when he is picking his best team, he is going to play. That coupled with Tel being right footed, means it feels like in this system, the left side is the least likely for him to play games, at least not when Spurs are playing their best XI.

When Solanke is back fit, it feels very possible that we see a front three of (R/L) Tel, Solanke, Son. That feels like a very balanced attack. You have the speed, directness, and energy of Tel on the right, the focal point, link up man, and aerial threat of Solanke up front, as well as the goal threat and creativity of Son on the left.

You can never, ever, count on players being available when it comes to Spurs, but goodness. If Brennan Johnson and Solanke come back with no fresh injuries to anyone in that time. The attacking depth will look scary. Mikey Moore, Son, Richarlison, Solanke, Scarlett, Tel, and Johnson all for three positions.