Mathys Tel is understood to be unhappy after being removed from Tottenham Hotspur’s UEFA Champions League squad.
Spurs paid Bayern Munich around £30 million to sign Tel on a permanent basis over the summer, having had him on loan for the second half of the 2024/25 campaign.
Despite that significant investment in the 20-year-old, Tottenham were unable to find a spot for him in their initial Champions League squad when it was named in September.
As a result, Tel missed out on games against Villarreal, Bodo Glimt, Monaco, Copenhagen and Paris Saint-Germain.
Tottenham cut Mathys Tel from Champions League squad just six weeks after adding him
New UEFA squad rules allow clubs to replace one injured player during the first six match weeks of the league phase, so Spurs added Tel to their Champions League squad as a replacement for injured striker Dominic Solanke in December.
The Frenchman then featured as a substitute in a 3-0 win over Slavia Prague.
However, those same new UEFA squad rules also allow for the previously injured player to be reinstated when he returns to fitness. And that is what Spurs have done now, with Solanke replacing Tel ahead of this week’s home clash with Borussia Dortmund.
Mathys Tel has been removed from Tottenham’s Champions League squad to make way for the returning Dominic Solanke.
Transfer interest in “unhappy” Mathys Tel
Tel is said to have made it clear to manager Thomas Frank that he is unhappy to have been left out of Tottenham’s Champions League squad for a second time.
His frustration at the situation has led to increased interest from other clubs, with multiple admirers in Germany and France.
However, it is believed that Spurs have no intention of letting Tel leave during the January transfer window.
Spurs ideally would have liked to have kept Tel in their Champions League squad alongside Solanke, especially as Brazilian striker Richarlison suffered a hamstring injury that will likely rule him out for the best part of two months.
But there is a limit to how many changes can be made. Those limitations mean that Spurs will also be without January signing Conor Gallagher for the Dortmund game. In fact, Tottenham will be without as many as 13 players against Dortmund.
A win over Dortmund would significantly boost Tottenham’s chances of finishing inside the top eight and thus qualifying for the round of 16.
However, failure to beat the German side would leave Frank’s men with it all to do going into their final match of the league phase, which is away at Eintracht Frankfurt next week.
Another loss would also pile more pressure upon manager Frank, who was subjected to chants of “sacked in the morning” after Tottenham lost at home to West Ham on Saturday.
Tottenham have a flawless Champions League record against Dortmund, having played them four times and won all four of those games by an aggregate score of nine goals to two.
Seven of those goals were scored by Harry Kane or Son Heung-min.
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