Tottenham close to deal for Mathys Tel loan from Bayern Munich

Tottenham Hotspur are close to striking a loan deal to sign forward Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich.

The exact structure of the deal is still to be agreed but the Premier League club are working to conclude a move ahead of Monday night’s deadline.

The Athletic reported last week that Tel had indicated to Tottenham that he intended to stay at Bayern and reassess his future in the summer, despite agreements being reached for him to join the north London club and interest from a host of other teams.

Manchester United also expressed an interest in Tel this month if he was available to move on loan. Chelsea, who had a long-standing interest in Tel that pre-dates this window, also made an enquiry.

Tel has appeared 83 times for Bayern, scoring 16 times and providing seven assists. He joined the club from French side Rennes in 2022.

He became Bayern’s youngest ever goalscorer in August of that year, netting in a 5-0 win over Viktoria Cologne to beat the previous record held by Jamal Musiala.

Tel is set to join a Tottenham squad that has been heavily hampered by injuries throughout the season. Along the front line, Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert are all sidelined, while Richarlison and Mikey Moore have also spent time out.

Ange Postecoglou’s side are enduring a tough season and are 14th in the Premier League, having lost 10 of their 24 games in the competition.

Additional reporting: Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, David Ornstein

‘No doubt about his ability’

Analysis by Anantaajith Raghuraman

Mathys Tel signalled his arrival on the big stage from the bench.

Across 140 minutes as a substitute in Bundesliga and Champions League games for Bayern Munich at the start of the 2023-24 season, Tel scored five goals. His talent had shone through in limited minutes the previous season under Julian Nagelsmann. Aside from scoring five league goals in just 397 minutes, his confidence in taking players on and getting shots away stood out.

That carried over to the first two months of the following season under Thomas Tuchel. Tel finished with 10 goals across all competitions despite making only 10 starts.

His ascent has hit a roadblock, though, with only 462 minutes of action across competitions in 2024-25 under a third manager, Vincent Kompany.

Tel was at his best last season when paired with Alphonso Davies on the left. The Canadian was willing to make the overlapping runs that provided Tel with one-on-one opportunities. Davies and Tel exchanged 88 passes during that Bundesliga season, making it the forward’s most active partnership.

Moving to Bayern from Rennes in 2022 was bound to present obstacles given off-the-pitch changes, the quality of forwards in their squad and the later expectations set by Tel’s hot start. But there can be no doubt about his ability as an inside forward, with the versatility to deliver in other positions.

(Sebastian Widmann/Getty Images)