The Tottenham Hotspur winger has become a target for criticism this season but has shone on international duty away from the club
Mathys Tel has been on the receiving end of criticism from his Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi and the club's supporters but has put that behind him while on international duty.
The Frenchman, who turned 21 this year, arrived from Bayern Munich as a star of the future with the German giants having paid Rennes £26million for him as a 17-year-old. Arriving in N17 first on loan, Tel was thrown into Premier League life at a time when Spurs were struggling both with injuries and their form, and he had to adapt to the fast and physical league as a target man with others out.
The youngster managed five goal involvements in his first 14 Premier League and FA Cup games and played his part in Spurs' run to winning the Europa League.
After signing permanently for £29.8million, Tel found starts hard to come by under Thomas Frank and was left out of the Dane's Champions League squad. The usual Tottenham injury crisis arrived though midway through the season and the young Frenchman ended up playing his part with six goal involvements, including an important assist in the win at Aston Villa and then a terrific goal against Leeds before giving away a penalty at the other end.
A post-season chat with De Zerbi convinced Tel that the Italian was going to help develop him and give him minutes and there was no need for a summer departure. The attacker featured heavily in pre-season and was one of the better players on the tour to New Zealand and Australia, scoring a superb free-kick against Chelsea in Sydney.
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However, along with his team-mates, Tel has found the start of the season difficult with De Zerbi's attacking options failing to click yet.
The fans have singled him out for criticism and De Zerbi has also called for more from the young forward. The head coach could be seen airing his frustrations at Tel on the pitch after the goalless draw against Everton.
"Yes, I coached him on the pitch," De Zerbi said. "The body shape of a striker. The striker can play with the shoulder on the goal. If we are playing with [James] Maddison, [Mohammed] Kudus and Savio, he has to play as a striker, and the striker has to look at the goal, no?
"Or on the cross of Robertson. He has to stay inside because he started [his career] as a striker. Now he's playing as a winger, but he started in his career as a striker."
He added: "But I love Mathys as a player, as a guy. There is not a problem."
Tel was left out of the squad to face Aston Villa and could have spent the international break wallowing but instead he has been one of Tottenham's top performers of those away with their countries.
He captained France and scored their only goal in the 1-1 draw away against Iceland in the European under-21 Championship qualifiers. Tel was the skipper again days later as they won 2-0 in Estonia and then netted the winner at home against Luxembourg to book his country's place at the Euros.
Tel has now netted 14 goals in 23 matches for France's under-21s and rounds off his international break with Tuesday night's home qualifier against Switzerland.
The young attacker will be hoping to bring his international goalscoring form back to Spurs if he can get past the abundance of options De Zerbi now has on the left with the likes of newcomers Omar Marmoush, Savio and Mykhailo Mudryk, when the Ukrainian returns from an ankle injury.