Mathys Tel has revealed the pain of being left out of Tottenham's Champions League squad left him fuming, but has vowed to use the snub as motivation and prove his doubters wrong. Spurs' decision was due in part to the club's struggles to meet UEFA's homegrown player quota, which forced manager Thomas Frank to reduce the squad size from 25 to 22, meaning several players had to be excluded, including Tel.
Tricky start to life under new boss Frank
Tel made permanent his move to Spurs earlier this summer in a £30 million ($40.2m) move from Bayern Munich, after joining on loan in February, but the 20-year-old forward has struggled for consistent playing time under boss Frank this season. He played just 19 minutes in Tottenham's first three league matches of the season, facing stiff competition from players like Richarlison, Brennan Johnson, and Mohammed Kudus. However, Tel recently scored his first goal of the season in Spurs’ Premier League victory over Leeds United and then started the match against Aston Villa. But the Champions League snub has been a bitter pill for him to swallow.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportTel reveals anger over Europe snub
Tel, speaking to , has revealed his pain over missing out on Europe's elite cup competition, but vowed to bounce back. He said: "To be honest, I was very, very mad for a lot of weeks. But I was like, 'use this and show him you need to be on the squad list'. Bad things help me more than good things to be better. So I will face a lot of bad things, but I'm going to be OK with that. I'm not in the squad list right now, but I will do everything to be in the squad list in January. This is a new challenge for me, I love challenges. I’m a fair person and I was not on a good day for the [Super Cup], I didn't play well enough.
"If I'm a gaffer and I can see a player is not good enough, I will maybe do the same. So in my mind I was like 'this is fair because we've got a lot of good players. It's OK'. After the game against Leeds, he pushed me to the fans and that was quite emotional for me. Because he showed me that 'I didn't put you in the squad, but you're still there, I still believe in you, I'm still behind you'. It's not because 'you didn't do this or I don’t like you'."
Message of support from Spurs hero
Tel has stayed in touch with one of his former Bayern teammates, a player who remains a legend in north London – Harry Kane. Kane has shared words of support with Tel, a move which has been warmly welcomed. Tel further told the Telegraph: "Kane helped me a lot. Four days ago, he sent me a voice note and we spoke together about how I can be better, about finishing, positioning in the box.
"He told me 'whenever you want to call me, just call me. We're going to talk together and try to find what is the best work for you'. It's very good because he takes his time to talk to me. To explain how I can be better. For me, he's the best striker in the world and now he has played 13 games and scored 21 goals. We are in October! He told me 'whenever you want, just call me or text me and we will talk. If you want to talk about football, if you don't want to talk about football, you want to talk about life, I'm always there for you'. He's a very good guy."
AFPChances coming thick and fast for Tel
There will be plenty of opportunity for Tel to prove his doubters wrong in the coming weeks as Tottenham have an action-packed schedule in cup and domestic action. Following the clash with Monaco in midweek, Spurs face Everton in the league, Newcastle in the League Cup and then there's the eagerly-anticipated London derby with Chelsea on November 1.