Tottenham Hotspur splashed a fee of £30m to sign winger Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich during the summer transfer window after his loan spell in North London came to an end.
The France U21 international spent the second half of last season on loan with Ange Postecoglou’s side, scoring three goals and providing one assist in all competitions.
Spurs and former chairman Daniel Levy opted to make that loan deal permanent for £30m, despite the change in head coach, to provide him with a chance to impress under Thomas Frank.
Unfortunately, the ex-Brentford manager opted to leave the 20-year-old winger out of his squad for the league phase of the Champions League, which does not bode well for the young talent.
Tel did score two goals for France’s U21s during the international break earlier this month, which shows that he does still have potential to be a success at Spurs, but he needs to show it in domestic matches this season.
The French forward will be hoping that he does not join the list of expensive wingers who have failed to make a success of themselves in North London.
Ranking Tottenham's most expensive winger signings
Tel, who can play as a left-winger or as a centre-forward, ranks among the top five most expensive winger signings in the club’s history if Transfermarkt fees are taken into account.
Mohammed Kudus
£55.6m
Brennan Johnson
£47.9m
Steven Bergwijn
£26.1m
Erik Lamela
£26.1m
Heung-min Son
£26.1m
As you can see in the table above, summer signing Mohammed Kudus tops the list, whilst club legend Heung-min Son also features at the bottom.
If pressed to rank those five signings, Son would have to be at the top of the list. He scored 173 goals and provided 101 assists in 451 matches, per Transfermarkt, along with captaining the side to a Europa League trophy.
Brennan Johnson, meanwhile, has to be ranked in second place in this moment of time, simply because he scored the winning goal in a European final for Spurs against Manchester United at the end of last season.
Irrespective of what the Wales international did before that or what he will go on to do, that moment alone makes his signing and the fee paid for him worthwhile.
It is too soon to judge Kudus, who only arrived this summer, whilst Lamela should be third on this list. The Argentine forward had longevity on his side, as he racked up 37 goals and 46 assists in 257 outings for Spurs, per Transfermarkt.
That leaves Steven Bergwijn, who joined from PSV in 2020, at the bottom of the pile. He only lasted two-and-a-half years at the club, and the forward only scored eight competitive goals in that time.
The Netherlands international scored eight goals and provided ten assists in 83 appearances for Tottenham, per Transfermarkt, which shows that he was not as effective or impactful as Johnson, Son, or Lamela.
Bergwijn was an expensive flop on the wing, one that Tel is looking to avoid being a repeat of, and there is a winger at the club who is in danger of being the next version of the Dutch forward.
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Tottenham swooped to sign French winger Wilson Odobert from Burnley for a fee of £25m in the summer of 2024, and he has yet to prove his worth on the pitch.
Why Wilson Odobert may be the next Steven Bergwijn
The young forward was signed for a similar fee to Bergwijn and his performances on the field for the club have done little to dismiss a comparison between the two.
It is worth noting that Odobert struggled with hamstring injuries last season, which disrupted his progress, but his displays when fit and available offered little encouragement.
The 20-year-old winger, who is the same age as Tel, has scored one goal and created one ‘big chance’ in 21 appearances in the Premier League for Spurs to date, via Sofascore, with his latest showing coming against Brighton at the weekend.
Thomas Frank handed the youngster an opportunity to shine on the left flank, but the Frenchman ended the game with zero out of three dribbles completed, zero out of five duels won, and no key passes or shots on target in 72 minutes, per Sofascore.
Odobert, who was described as “incredibly raw” by U23 scout Antonio Mango, was an expensive signing for Spurs, at £25m, and just falls short of being one of the five most expensive wide signings in the club’s history, which is why it is not too harsh to expect more from the former Burnley man.
Appearances
13
16
Minutes
934
849
Goals
2
1
Shots on target per game
0.7
0.3
Big chances created
5
1
Assists
1
0
Dribbles completed per game
1.2
0.8
As you can see in the table above, Tel, who joined on loan in January, provided more quality at the top end of the pitch than his fellow France U21 international did in the Premier League last season.
These statistics suggest that Odobert offers even less than Tel does in the final third, as both a scorer and, certainly, as a creator from a wide or central berth.
The 20-year-old forward, of course, has plenty of time left to turn things around and prove to supporters and the club that the money spent to bring him in from Burnley was worthwhile, rather than becoming the next Bergwijn, who was an expensive flop on the wing.
However, the signs are not promising at this moment in time. We can only judge on what has happened so far, and Odobert has not done enough on the pitch to suggest that his fortunes are going to turn around any time soon.
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Therefore, the French winger is the one who is in danger of becoming the next Bergwijn, rather than Tel, who showed some glimpses of quality in the Premier League last term.