Tottenham Hotspur forward Mathys Tel has made it loud and clear that he wants out this winter for six months, because he is tired of riding the bench for a team he should be starting for every week. Tel is regularly the most impressive attacker for Spurs when he does get an opportunity, whether that is in the starting XI or off the bench.
Tel has a lot of suitors around Europe interested in acquiring him on loan, from Roma in Italy to Paris FC in Ligue 1. He could start for a number of quality teams that are having better 2025/26 seasons than Spurs, and yet manager Thomas Frank has continued to snub him repeatedly.
The most disgraceful aspect of how Tel has been treated at Tottenham under Frank is how often the manager has pulled the rug right out from underneath the former Bayern Munich man, regardless of how well he plays.
Thomas Frank is messing it all up
We saw that first hand over the weekend in the 2-1 loss to West Ham United that should have cost Frank his job. Tel was the only real attacking threat on the pitch for Spurs, yet Frank had him hooked off instead of Randal Kolo Muani, even though the latter was beyond useless and has zero value to the club as a loan signing from PSG who clearly looks like he does not give a rat's rear end about Tottenham now.
Well, things got worse the day after, as Frank, with his job on the line, decided to pull his best left winger and a player already demanding a transfer out. He took Tel off the Champions League squad to bring in striker Dominic Solanke.
Now, according to a report from German journalist Kerry Hau of Sky Sports News, Mathys Tel is planning on leaving Tottenham Hotspur this January transfer window. And the only way Spurs can convince him to stay with his mind currently set on a departure is by firing the man responsible for his misery, manager Thomas Frank.
The thing is, Tottenham do not appear to be considering firing Frank at this time. Even with fans demanding his sacking after the loss to West Ham and the lack of improvements with loss after loss, Spurs waffled on canning him and held out for the Borussia Dortmund match on Tuesday night.
Tottenham managed to win the game against Dortmund convincingly, which now puts them in a huge bind because everyone at the club knows Frank is not good enough, yet this win keeps his job alive. And it will be the move that ultimately pushes Tel out the club. At this point, Spurs have to be worried about more than just a loan, as the Frenchman could very well want out permanently, if not now but in 2027 or later in 2026 if he enjoys his loan enough.