Tottenham Hotspur have just completed the signing of Mathys Tel for £30m, but there was another player who Henry Winter can’t believe didn’t end up in N17 instead.
Tottenham signed Tel for £38.5m in total, having paid an £8.5m loan fee in January, plus a £30m option to make the deal permanent this summer.
The Frenchman is seen as the long-term successor to Son Heung-min, who is starting to lose his powers and is being linked with a move away.
Son is close to leaving Tottenham this summer as the 32-year-old has offers from the Saudi Pro League and Turkey, but Spurs now look well equipped for when he does eventually depart.
Henry Winter shocked Tottenham never moved for Marcus Rashford
Henry Winter has revealed that he is shocked that Tottenham Hotspur never moved to sign Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford.
The journalist explained how he always felt that if Rashford remained in the Premier League, Spurs would be the type of club to make their move for him.
Especially as he could have been the ideal replacement for Son, however, the Lilywhites have instead opted to make Mathys Tel’s move permanent.
Winter told Sky Sports Transfer Talk: “I always thought that if he was going to stay in England, that he would go to a club like Tottenham Hotspur, but they’ve got Mathys Tel who’s playing out there because Heung-Min Son’s sort of powers are fading and Rashford would have been very good on the left.”
The big issue facing the 27-year-old is that he will likely need to take a substantial pay cut to move elsewhere ahead of the World Cup.
Rashford currently earns around £300k-per-week, which would make him Spurs’ highest earner by quite some margin, whilst paying £40m to sign him.
“But look, as ever with modern football, as it comes down to money and I just think that Marcus Rashford is going to have to take a substantial cut if he wants to be playing and if he wants to seize this opportunity to go to the World Cup,” added Winter.
Thomas Frank’s key role in keeping Mathys Tel at Tottenham
Frank is excited to work with Tel at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and he is believed to have played a key role in making the deal permanent.
The Danish manager has reportedly been doing his homework on the Frenchman and was eager to make the deal permanent.
Tel has been impressing for France U21, and it’s pretty evident that the 20-year-old is a player with huge potential, despite only netting three times during his loan spell at Spurs.
Frank’s track record for developing attackers will make working under him for Tel an exciting prospect, having seen him improve the likes of Ollie Watkins, Bryan Mbeumo, Ivan Toney and Yoane Wissa.