Tottenham’s signing of Mathys Tel could prove to be the best piece of business in the January window, after they beat rivals Manchester United and Arsenal to his signature.
The talented 19-year-old striker has joined Tottenham on a loan deal until the end of the season which includes an option to buy for £45m. Spurs have also paid a loan fee of over £5m, which could rise to £8m if all add-ons are met.
The agreement with Tottenham was one of the biggest shocks of deadline day and we can shed some light on how Ange Postecogolou and Daniel Levy negotiated the deal.
Tel has been the subject of interest from the Premier League for some time and his early-window preference was to stay with Bayern, while the German giants didn’t want him to leave.
However, Vincent Kompany didn’t give the forward any minutes in three consecutive Bayern games towards the end of the window, which changed the player’s perspective.
Tottenham then agreed £50m fee for Tel with Bayern, before chairman Levy then flew over to Munich to try and convince the player to join. At the time, however, Tel didn’t want to commit to a permanent move and turned Spurs down.
At that point, Spurs walked away and there appeared to be a significant roadblock for all of Tel’s suitors, as Bayern’s preference was to sell him, while Tel was leaning to a loan, so a compromise had to be found.
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Ange Postecoglou played starring role in deadline day twist
Manchester United appeared to be frontrunners for Tel after showing interest in a loan deal and the forward was open to a move to Old Trafford.
However, the Red Devils were ultimately unwilling to pay the required loan fee, while Bayern were also pushing for permanence to any Tel deal right up until Monday morning.
Manchester United had to factor in the overall cost of any Tel deal and consider their own PSR (Profitability and Sustainability Rules) situation. Eventually they left the race. It was the same story with Christopher Nkunku, who would have been costly on a loan, plus the player was reluctant to leave on a temporary deal.
Sources have confirmed to TEAMtalk that on the morning of deadline day, Tottenham and Arsenal both asked again about a deal for Tel. Whereas Arsenal took a similar position to Manchester United, Spurs decided to proceed.
Ange Postecoglou held a direct call with Tel and that played an important role in the youngster deciding to get on the plane to North London.
It has been suggested that Tel specially turned down Tottenham when Daniel Levy had tried to initially close the deal, but at that point he was still not open to any permanent switch and waiting to see if Manchester United or Arsenal formalised their interest.
Mathys Tel has pre-agreed long term Tottenham contract
Postecoglou was vital to convincing Tel to join and Levy played an instrumental role in securing the buy option in the loan agreement with Bayern. This was not fully finalised until later on Deadline Day with Tel already en route.
Tottenham will now have the opportunity to sign Tel permanently for £45m in the summer. This is slightly lower than Levy’s original fee, but the financials of the deal are pretty much the same given the loan fee Spurs are paying.
Tel has provisionally agreed terms on a six-year contract in case the option is taken, but would still need to agree to sign this summer for the clause to be formalised.
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