Why 4/10 Spurs signing has been even worse than Mathys Tel

The biggest problem this season for Tottenham Hotspur has not been the manager; it has been the attack.

While the blame for poor performances may well lie at the door of Roberto De Zerbi, more should be expected of players who cost Spurs the earth over the summer.

Savio has scored just one goal since a whopping £85m move from Manchester City, while Omar Marmoush, who they are set to pay £60m for next summer, is goalless.

Still, neither have been quite as bad as Mathys Tel.

Why Spurs signed Mathys Tel

In February 2025, Ange Postecoglou brought in Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich on an initial loan deal.

It wasn’t a move that instantly got fans purring, but they were aware of the potential of a young player who had previously been declared “the next Kylian Mbappe.”

During his time at Bayern Munich, Tel didn’t really get a fair crack at first-team opportunities. That’s always going to be difficult when you’re competing with the likes of Michael Olise and Harry Kane for minutes.

Did the player feel as though he deserved better? Perhaps.

In 2023/24, he scored ten goals and supplied six assists as a teenager. The forward was firmly establishing himself as one of the most exciting young attackers in Europe.

A real livewire, Tel’s best quality is certainly his dribbling. Last term, he ranked among the top 9% of wingers in Europe’s top five leagues for successful dribbles per 90 minutes with 2.62. In his best season with Bayern, the 21-year-old ranked among the best 4% of positionally similar players for the same stat, registering 3.23 per 90.

On paper, this was a solid signing, but has it been worth the £30m paid to secure his services on a permanent basis? Definitely not.

Why Tel has been such a poor investment

During that initial loan spell at Spurs in which he helped Postecoglou’s side win the Europa League, Tel scored just three goals. Alas, Tottenham sought fit to pay £30m for him.

They were investing in potential, investing in the hope that while he wouldn’t become the next Mbappe, he could become the natural heir to Heung-min Son on the left flank.

That simply hasn’t happened; Tel has never kicked on since arriving in English football.

While he is still young, supporters and De Zerbi look as though they have seen enough. The Frenchman contributed just four goals and two assists in all competitions last term and is yet to register a single goal involvement in 2026/27.

While he is still spritely in his work and keen to take on a player, his end product has been desperately poor since becoming a Tottenham player.

He started the season out on the left flank but has quickly been usurped in the pecking order by both Savio and Marmoush. You can expect he will be further bumped down once Mykhailo Mudryk returns from injury too.

With Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert also still to return, the future looks bleak for Tel.

Big-money Spurs star needs to follow Tel out of the exit door

De Zerbi and Co got through an almighty amount of work over the summer, but their squad building is still not complete.

It has become apparent in the early months of the new season that there is still a lot of dead wood to clear. Tel is one of the players who should be transfer-listed over the winter, but he’s not the only one.

You have to look at players like Richarlison who isn’t even in the first team picture at the moment.

Over pre-season, the Brazilian was arguably De Zerbi’s finest player. He scored against Auckland, Chelsea and Hoffenheim. No one in the squad found the net with greater regularity in that period.

Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs

Yet, he quickly fell out of the manager’s plans. Despite starting the opening game of the season with Brentford, he was later excluded from Tottenham’s Premier League squad list.

That bizarrely happened after the transfer window shut, meaning destinations for the forward were few and far between. He could have gone to Turkey but a move fell through there.

As a result, he’s still on the books in north London and he’s costing them a pretty penny in the process. Richarlison has not been seen in the squad since that defeat to Brentford.

For a player who cost £60m to be completely alienated from the squad is an odd situation. It’s a bit like what happened with Tanguy Ndombele.

As with Richarlison, the Frenchman was eventually cast aside. A series of loan spells with Lyon, Napoli and Galatasaray came to an end and he was eventually released despite once costing £62.8m.

Well, it looks like that same eventuality will befall the Brazilian. A £60m buy, he is out of contract next summer and very likely to leave on a free transfer.

Considering he was the club’s top scorer last term, that is wild to think about. It’s wild to think about him playing for the U21s too but that’s what happened this week.

He played against Cheltenham in the EFL Trophy and did score. Credit to the attacker for the attitude and desire to play but it really is the end of the road now.

At times, Richarlison has impressed but he’s been widely inconsistent throughout his time at Tottenham. A big signing like Ndombele, it’s all unravelling in very similar circumstances as he reaches the end of his time in London.