Mathys Tel can join Spurs, Man United or Aston Villa in £50m deal - his decision should be obvious

French wonderkid Mathys Tel is edging closer to an exciting move to the Premier League, with Tottenham Hotspur reaching a verbal agreement for the signing of the Bayern Munich forward.

At £50m, the teenager would become Bayern's most expensive ever sale in their 125 year history despite only making 14 appearances and starting just two matches across all competitions this season.

Tel is determined to gain more regular first team football and has expressed a desire to leave Germany for England after two and a half years on the books at the Allianz Arena.

He has attracted interest from various clubs in Saudi Arabia but the most concrete interest has come from the Premier League with the likes of Manchester United, Aston Villa and most notably Tottenham all showing interest in the 19-year-old.

As it stands, Tottenham, who are languishing in 15th position are leading the charge to get the deal done and according to Mail Sport, Daniel Levy has already touched down in Munich to try and get the deal over the line.

At this stage, Tel is undecided about his next step and whether it will be on loan or a permanent deal. Reports state that the youngster has a lot of offers on the table and will continue to take his time before making his final decision at the end of the window.

Why Mathys Tel is in demand

Mathys Tel is regarded as one of the best young talents in French football. The former Paris FC youth star started his professional career at Rennes and was introduced to the first team at just 16-years and 110 days - becoming the club’s youngster appearance player of all-time.

Despite not scoring, he showed plenty of potential at the Roazhon Park - and after winning the 2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship for France was brought by Bayern Munich for a figure of around £23m.

Tel quickly broke into the first team at at the Allianz Arena and under Julian Nagelsmann and later Thomas Tuchel became a useful squad member with six goals in 28 appearances across all competitions while slotting into various positions including left winger, right winger and striker.

He showcased further promise in his second term by scoring 10 and creating six in 41 appearances despite missing out on the title. He notably caught the eye with a winning goal off the bench against Manchester United in a 4-3 Champions League win and was lauded throughout the team’s road to the semi-final for his pace, energy and desire to stretch defences.

This season has been Tel’s worst in Germany under Vincent Kompany with limited game time and the Frenchman now feels he needs regular first team football to achieve his dream of being a regular for France ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

Who should Mathys Tel join next?

Tottenham Hotspur are currently the favourites to sign Mathys Tel, in a move which does make sense on a short-term perspective with summer signing Dominic Solanke out until mid-March and Brennan Johnson out for the next few weeks.

However, first team football would hardly be a formality in North London due to the range of options that Spurs currently have at their disposal in attacking areas. Brazil international Richarlison for example has hit the ground running since returning from injury, while Heung Min Son despite not hitting his usual standards, still offers the team plenty of quality and experience as either a winger or a forward.

Dejan Kuluveski is another option that has proven he can find the net this term while summer signing Wilson Odobert will hope to be back in the running next season after injury along with Timo Werner, who has struggled for form this season.

Tottenham are undoubtedly an attacking-minded team which would suit Tel’s play style, but fitting him in at the North London stadium could be complicated - particularly if Ange Postecoglou was to lose his job amid rising pressure.

Manchester United have similarly been credited with interest. Again the deal makes sense from their perspective with Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee struggling to score goals - and Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho both being linked with moves away.

However, Tel at 19, is far from the finished product at this stage in his career - and the Red Devils as a whole have been a club that have struggled to develop young signings as displayed by the failures of Antony, Hojlund, Zirkzee and Jadon Sancho in recent windows.

At this stage, if Tel was to leave Germany his best chance of forging a successful career would likely come at Aston Villa - They unlike United and Spurs at this time, are currently a team on an upwards trajectory after making it to the round-of-16 of the Champions League and have proven with the likes of Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers that they are capable of developing young players and harnessing their full potential.

Tel would immediately become Villa’s second choice centre forward if he was to arrive in the West Midlands as a replacement for Duran and would be able to learn from one of the best strikers in the Premier League in Ollie Watkins, who has many similar qualities to Tel in the way he can stretch defences, get in behind and score plenty of goals.

Given the fact that Villa are still competing in all fronts in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup - Tel would also be guaranteed plenty of game time, either in the starting lineup or off the bench as we saw earlier in the season with Duran.

Statistically speaking, Watkins boasts the fourth highest XG in the Premier League behind only Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak. This figure of 13.84 is higher than the likes of Dominic Solanke (9.58) and significantly more than Joshua Zirkzee (3.81) or Rasmus Hojlund (2.35). Hence, proving that Villa would offer Tel the best prospects of finding the net on a regular basis.