Tottenham Hotspur youngster Mathys Tel has as much potential as any current Spurs first team player rising through the ranks, and although he has shown his potential with game changing goals in games against Leeds United and Manchester United this season, he has mostly been eschewed by manager Thomas Frank.
For the most part, Frank has been undervaluing his young players in his first season at the helm. Recently, he has shown signs of giving the young stars he has discarded a chance, with the likes of Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall finally becoming important starters over the last few games.
Tel, though, remains mostly on the periphery, but, quietly, it appears Frank is realizing the error of his ways of undervaluing the Bayern Munich signing. Because right at the very beginning of the season, Frank already made it clear that he didn't value Tel as highly as the more important people above him in the club did. You know, the same people who signed him permanently from Bayern.
The Mathys Tel mistake
That's because Frank didn't even have Tel on the final squad for the Champions League season, meaning Tel cannot help them in European football's premier competition this campaign. It's a decision that Frank has now admitted he regrets.
The Danish coach said of Mathys Tel, prior to Tottenham's Champions League match against Slavia Praha on Tuesday night, via The Spurs Express, âIf I knew then what I know now, I would have changed my decision, no doubt about it.â
Wow, he came right out and admitted it. Although Thomas Frank is a quiet man, he has a certain understated sense of pride about him and does not often admit he is in the wrong. He never did, for example, with Bergvall, Gray, or, most recently, attacking midfielder Xavi Simons.
But he is admitting that he was wrong to cut Tel out of the Champions League squad. The thing is, while that may be seen as a positive to the Spurs fans who want to see more reps for Tel on the left wing and at striker, the words feel a bit empty since Frank still has not been playing the French forward much, even after he proved his utility with those displays against Leeds and Manchester United. But the season is young yet - and Tel younger still. The former Ligue 1 prospect will get more opportunities to show his stuff in 2025/26, rest assured.