New Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank has already made it clear he is "very, very excited" about Mathys Tel signing a permanent deal with the club. Following the Frenchman's initial loan spell from Bayern Munich, he has signed a six-year deal in N17 for a transfer fee worth £29.8million (€35million), plus a potential further £4.2million (€5million) in add-ons.
Even though the decision over the 20-year-old's long-term future was something that divided the opinion of fans, it was a rather straightforward call for the club. Tel may not have been a Tottenham player when they played Frank's Brentford team at the beginning of February but the new boss quite clearly knows all about the youngster and the areas of his game he can improve.
"Very, very excited about Mathys signing with a permanent deal," said the Dane in a club interview. "I think he's a very talented player that can play across the front four positions. He's a goalscorer that we can develop even further to be more consistent in his all-round game but also to more consistently land in the right positions in the box. So I'm looking forward to it."
The reason for some fans not wanting the club to sign Tel on a long-term deal was mainly due to the £45.7million buy option and what he did or did not contribute in the final third in his minutes on the pitch. Tel finished the 2024/25 campaign with three goals and two assists to his name in 20 appearances.
He did show plenty of promise when played, most notably in the home defeat against Nottingham Forest in April, but that clinical cutting edge when it mattered most wasn't always there. A player with bags of potential due to the attributes in his locker, many will have ultimately felt that the club could spend the £45.7million better elsewhere.
It may well be in the 2025/26 season where Tottenham see a different side to Tel. The hope will be that is the case, especially with Frank potentially able to extract even more out of him considering his great record at working with young players.
When it comes to Tel and his first 20 games for the club, it needs to be remembered that he arrived in a brand new country as a 19-year-old and had to very quickly try and get to grips with the pace and intensity of the Premier League. There was no real bedding-in period for the player as he was immediately thrown into Ange Postecoglou's starting XI due to the injury crisis the team were going through.
Tel's first four months in a Tottenham shirt should stand him in good stead to attack the new season and hopefully hit the ground running. What should also help is near enough a full pre-season with Frank and his teammates once his participation at the Under-21 European Championship has come to an end.
Tel's initial loan period and what comes next could be reminiscent of Lucas Moura's first few months at the club after joining from Paris Saint-Germain in January 2018. The Brazilian contributed two goals and four assists in his first ten appearances in all competitions as Mauricio Pochettino elected to ease him in rather than immediately introduce him to the starting XI.
Whereas that wasn't the case for Tel at Tottenham, there may eventually be similarities in terms of what they offered in their first four months as Spurs players and what happened next. In the 2018/19 season, Lucas scored 15 goals in 49 appearances, including a memorable double in a 3-0 win at Manchester United, a hat-trick against Huddersfield Town and that treble at Ajax that sent Tottenham through to the Champions League final.
Before all that occurred, Lucas spoke in the summer of 2018 about the importance of his first few months as a Tottenham player and his adaptation to a brand new country and league.
“My first months at Tottenham were to adapt to the new league, to the city, to the climate of a new country," said Lucas in an interview with Brazilian outlet Lance! in the summer of 2018. "But it was quiet, everyone welcomed me very well, I already knew [Serge] Aurier, with whom I had played in PSG. They treated me very well, the environment is very cool.
"It was easy to adapt and I am very happy to be wearing the shirt of a great team, and to play in the Premier League, which was a great dream. It’s a great opportunity in my life.
“I knew it would be difficult. I arrived at the window mid-season, and there were not so many signings. When I arrived the team was already in place, fighting for the first team places, they were already well into the Champions League.
"It is very difficult to get there and to be a starter. The expectation was to get there, to adapt, to know the environment, the new teammates. Now, it’s time to take advantage of the pre-season, start strong, and be able to clinch a starting spot this season.
“The expectation is to start well, go strong and fight for a place in the starting team. The team is very good with great players, but the season is long with many games. Surely I will have many opportunities. I need to take advantage of the chances that will appear.”
Tel showed glimpses of his quality in his first four months as a Tottenham player and it quite clearly was enough for the club to sanction a permanent transfer. As was the case with Lucas, the best is yet to come.