Tottenham Hotspur left winger Mathys Tel is one of the most high potential young players in the current squad, and he gave Spurs fans glimpses of what he can be at the end of the 2025/26 season, as well as during the preseason when he was legitimately one of the club's best players.
But through three starts in the 2026/27 Premier League season while Mohammed Kudus gets back to fitness and new Manchester City attacking signings Omar Marmoush and Savio get integrated into the squad, Tel has been one of the worst players on the team.
He killed so many attacks as Spurs continued to fail to score any goals against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest, wasting quite a few good positions afforded to him by the midfield, especially stalwarts Rodrigo Bentancur and new addition Mateus Fernandes.
Mathys Tel is wasting a lot of possession for Tottenham
But funny enough, according to WhoScored, the former Bayern Munich man actually leads the Premier League in dribbles completed wtih 10 through the first three matches of the season, which is an average of 3.3 per game. And in the context of a full season, that would actually get him near Mohammed Kudus, Iliman Ndiaye, Savio, and the others who would figure to be on the leaderboard by the end of the season.
The thing is, Mathys Tel leading the league in dribbles completed is not a good thing. It shows you just how much great possession he is wasting and subtly reenforces the fact that he is holding onto the ball for way too long.
Because Tel has scarcely created a single chance and has come nowhere near scoring or assisting in his three starts despite having enough possession to win 10 dribbles completed when he has also turned the ball over more than any other Tottenham Hotspur player thus far.
Sometimes, stats can be misleading or only tell you a part of the story, and Tottenham fans who have watched all three games thus far can easily see past the fact that Tel is a league leader in dribbles. And while his talent on the ball and courage to keep trying despite things not coming off are admirable, Tel has started to delve too much into selfishness, and perhaps he was afforded an unworthy degree of confidence after a great preseason against inferior competition. Whatever the case, Tel is definitely not the best dribbler or winger in the Premier League right now.
Add us as a preferred source on Google