Chelsea did try and hijack Tottenham’s move for Bayern Munich winger Mathys Tel, according to reports in France.
L’Equipe claims that the Blues made an approach when he was waiting for a flight to London ahead of sealing his loan switch to Spurs. However, the 19-year-old had already made up his mind that he was going to join the Lilywhites. Fans on X are not at all impressed with their club’s actions during the January transfer window, and they see the Tel incident as just another example of poor planning from sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley:
Embarrassing
— Jam (@Carefree_Jam) February 4, 2025
So we spent all window and still couldn’t close the deal but spurs could 💀
— Ellis🥋 (@elIisburner) February 4, 2025
SD's embarrassing themselves more and more everyday 🤡
— CFCAden (@CFCAden) February 4, 2025
Our sporting directors are utterly useless
— Logan W #RangelQB1 #OllieState #Restoreorder25 (@ColdW0rld18) February 4, 2025
great transfer strategy by the directors 👍 wait until the player is at the airport
— jaden 🙂 (@nkunkuLDN) February 4, 2025
If we weren’t embarrassing enough… the directors are bigger clowns than we first thought lol
— GeorgeCFC ⭐️⭐️ (@GeorgeMouta) February 4, 2025
Why did Chelsea leave it until the last minute?
Heading into January, the club knew that they needed to strengthen the left flank following Mykhailo Mudryk’s preliminary ban for a failed drugs test.
Tel had been on the club’s radar for quite some time, and the Blues must have known that he was contemplating his future so why did they wait until he had decided to join Spurs before making their approach?
Why did Tel choose Tottenham?
In addition to Chelsea, the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal were also credited with an interest in the Frenchman. He had initially rejected a switch to Spurs before performing a U-turn.
Many believe that Tel’s change of heart was based on the fact that he was given certain guarantees about game time that other teams, including Enzo Maresca’s side, were not able to provide.
Find out who is in Chelsea’s first-team squad for 2024/2025 season here
