Just a few days before the January transfer window closed, Tottenham Hotspur made a blockbuster €60 million bid for Bayern Munich youngster Mathys Tel, one which the club accepted but the player did not. Tel did eventually move on to Tottenham a few days later, but only on loan, with the €60 million tied up in a potential buy option.
Now that the Lilywhites have seen the former Rennes in action, however, they are a lot less willing to splash the cash. Football.london correspondent Alasdair Gold (as captured by @iMiaSanMia) reports that the initial price tag is now far too much for the Europa League winners:
Tottenham would prefer to keep Mathys Tel, but at nowhere near the figures initially being quoted. Either they get the price tag knocked right down or they agree a deal to take him on loan again or they simply switch to other targets.
On one hand, it seems that Bayern had truly divorced from the idea of retaining Tel with a really messy break up at the end of January. This does not give Bayern a lot of leverage in potential negotiations and that could help Spurs knock down the price.
On the other hand, a lot of teams registered interest in Tel in January and the Bavarians might get more money for the 20-year-old forward. In fact, considering there is no more desperate need to sell in order to buy Florian Wirtz, Bayern could be tempted to re-integrate the youngster into the squad after all. That could rather hurt Tottenham’s negotiating position. In fact, given the fact that they will be competing in the Champions League next season, it will be even harder for the club to cry poor.
As always, negotiating with Tottenham Hotspur CEO Daniel Levy is never easy and will take a lot of time. We will see how things progress from here.