Ange Postecoglou says that Mathys Tel will join Tottenham Hotspur permanently following his loan spell from Bayern Munich.
Tel moved to Spurs from Bayern on the final day of the winter transfer window and they have an option to make the deal permanent for €55million. The 19-year-old was the subject of interest from other Premier League sides including Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea.
Postecoglou was asked about the France Under-21 international’s long-term future before Tottenham’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool on Thursday.
“He’ll be a Tottenham player,” Postecoglou said. “I think he’ll show everyone he’s going to be a Tottenham player in the next six months. I didn’t bring him here for six months.”
Spurs reached an agreement with Bayern Munich to sign Tel last Friday but the move broke down before it was resurrected 72 hours later. Postecoglou spoke to Tel over the phone to convince him to join and he was asked about the forward’s initial reluctance to leave Bayern.
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“It’s a simplistic way of looking at it,” he said. “People need to understand that you are talking about a 19-year-old player who has to make a major decision about his career.
It’s not so much that he rejected us or anyone else. Rightly so he was getting as much information as possible. More than anything I think he just wanted to be comfortable with the decision. The sense I get was he didn’t want to be pushed in a certain direction. I think it is credit to him that he took his time and spoke to the right people.
“I had a conversation with him and mine was purely about football. I think he will find a really great place for him in terms of where he is in his career. He obviously wants to play and we have already shown that irrespective of age you will get an opportunity here. I think the way we play would suit him and certainly with what we have in the next few months and more importantly what we are building beyond I thought it would be a perfect fit for his next step. At the same time, I think it was right to take as long as he did and he was totally comfortable with it.”
Tel is eligible to feature against Liverpool and he has spent the last couple of days training with his new team-mates, including Kevin Danso who joined Spurs on Sunday on loan from Lens with an obligation to buy. Postecoglou has said both players are available for the trip to Liverpool.
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(Sebastian Widmann/Getty Images)
