“It’s very rare that this many clubs call you for a player,” Bayern Munich’s sporting director, Max Eberl, told Kicker last week when talking about the options available to Mathys Tel. It spoke not just of widespread recognition among Europe’s elite clubs of the 19‑year‑old’s quality but of a shift of policy in the Bundesliga leaders’ camp; from shutting their ears to all approaches at the beginning of January to accepting that leveraging a financial advantage out of the situation was the best they could do. A month-long transfer window leaves room for plenty of changes of heart and mind.
Some will snort that Tottenham were a mere backup choice after Tel declined their initial approach, that the forward blinked when faced with the prospect of a second half of the Bundesliga season like his first, given a mere 253 minutes of playing time. More probable is that an especially reflective young man took time to think of what would work best for him rather than what would most suit Bayern. There is little contradictory about the process when you consider Tel is an explosive attacking weapon with the maturity to constantly adapt.
