The Tottenham forward has struggled to get chances under Thomas Frank.
Tottenham Hotspur forward Mathys Tel has been struggling to accumulate minutes under his belt since Thomas Frank took charge of the proceedings at N17.
And given that we are in a World Cup year, the only realistic way for Tel to have an outside chance of making it into the France squad is if he were to play almost all the minutes from now until the conclusion of the season.
And this has led him to want to move away from North London just months after making his arrival a permanent one. Tel moved to N17 from Bayern Munich at the start of 2025 on what was an initial loan deal. And to make his temporary stay a permanent one, the club triggered their option to buy after we saw glimpses of his potential in his first few months at Hotspur Way. But quite admittedly his situation has taken a frustrating turn this season under Thomas Frank.
La Liga side open to give Tel a prominent role
Tel has been struggling for consistent minutes in the ongoing 2025/26 campaign. He has had only 685 minutes of first-team minutes on the pitch at the time of writing. Frank has continually preferred other attacking options over Tel. And the headlines in the past weeks have made it clear that Tel is growing frustrated with the lack of opportunities at Tottenham.
According to recent reports in Spain by Fichajes, Villarreal are now actively exploring bringing the Lilywhites ace to Estadio de la Ceramica on a loan deal this winter. And the La Liga side prepared to offer him minutes in their first team (something that he is not getting at N17 right now). Besides Villarreal, Paris FC and Roma are interested in Tel as well.
Tottenham are short of offensive options right now; Tel departure doesn’t make sense
Tottenham have already sanctioned a high-profile exit this winter in Brennan Johnson, who moved to Crystal Palace in the early days of the window. And then the North Londoners also lost Mohammed Kudus to an injury which should keep him on the sidelines at least until late March.
Then failing to bring in a capable replacement for Heung-Min Son in the summer has also left them quite thin of options on the left. Tottenham only have Wilson Odobert, who is available as a recognised left winger at the time of writing. While others, like Muani and Richarlison, can play there, they would just be filling in that position as a second role.
Talking about Richarlison, he also picked up an injury and joins Solanke on the sidelines, who has been out for quite a while now.
The Lilywhites are already short on options. It is difficult to see Thomas Frank sanction an exit for Tel right now despite everything else going around in the newspapers.
While Villarreal is keen, it doesn’t look like Tottenham will green-light his departure this winter.