The Rise of Mathys Tel
*Piece written on 29th September 2022, so information only up to date until that day
For Ligue 1 savants and the eagle-eyed football fan, Mathys Tel is a familiar name from last season since he became the youngest player to feature for Stade Rennais’ first team last season, breaking Eduardo Camavinga’s record in the process. He went on to top that achievement by captaining the French U17 team to the European Championship whilst chipping in with three goals and an assist.
A goal every 81 minutes at the youth level and his performance in the Euros, highlighted that he was ready to play for Bruno Génésio’s side at the tender age of 17. Les Rennais already have fantastic young attackers in Kamaldeen Sulemana, Desire Doue and Amine Gouiri so first-team opportunities seemed limited. Enter: Bayern Munich. The German juggernauts came calling with an eye-popping £30m offer, which the French club had no choice but to accept and with the promise of first-team football, Tel packed his bags and moved to the south of Germany. So, what convinced a Champions League contender to invest so heavily in an unproven teenage attacker?
Style of Play
As with most young and quick French attackers capable of playing across the frontline, Tel has already been associated with Thierry Henry. While comparisons to legends do young players no favours, there is credence to the idea that Tel mimics the style of the Arsenal record goal scorer. The laissez-faire approach in his ball control whether it’s using constant ball rolls or rapid cutbacks combined with an upright posture is akin to the swagger with which a prime Henry played the game. The technical quality is naturally more like a younger version of the ex-Barcelona star with both not having a massive arsenal of skills to win a 1vs1 situation. Tel has shown moments of magic, embarrassing defenders with Cruyff turns but those moments are few and far between. Instead, the youngster tends to push the ball into space and try to accelerate past his opposition. If they manage to keep up, he uses his hands effectively to push the defender away from the ball whilst bringing him closer to it. Having initially progressed through the youth ranks as a centre-back, it’s not a surprise that he has adopted a strategy that most defenders utilise to stop dribblers and use it to his advantage.
Another tool from the centre-back toolbox that Tel contains, is the ability to win aerial duels. He’s eager to contest every 50–50 ball and has a knack for winning most of them whether that be a flick-on to a teammate running beyond him or a header back to a teammate in space ahead of him. His stature helps him tremendously as not many forwards are 6’0 let alone at 17 but his Ja Morant-like one-legged leap is something that sets him apart from most forwards in the world.
Having an aerial dominant attacker is an asset that teams in the modern day yearn for and one that teams will look to pursue more often in the future. This is because when they face an aggressive press, the team have a get-out-of-jail-free card as the GK or defence can send long balls to bypass the press if they struggle to play through it and give the team at least a chance of retaining possession.
His frame comes in handy when holding-up play too as he blends that with decent technique to leverage his body and strength, leaving his opponent with little chance of dislodging him. The clips below highlights that Tel is successful against smaller opposition as they can’t overcome his physique.
However, to play against top-flight defenders who are usually stronger or bigger, he will need to make technical advancements. Some areas to improve include lowering his body position to have a stronger base, trapping the opponents arms using his own to prevent them from gaining any leverage and receiving the ball at an angle, usually side on, so the ball is further away from the defender. Tightening up on his control of the ball is also as this is an inconsistent part of his game and a source of most of his turnovers. Improving his skill in this department will elevate Tel’s impact and make him scalable to elite teams like Bayern as losses in build-up play are rightly frowned upon.
Ball control and passing are highly correlative attributes and Tel’s quality in the latter department do also leave a lot to desire. The accuracy isn’t the issue since passes get to the intended receiver frequently even if the weight is inconsistent. The decision-making is where he has deficiencies, a common problem for young players. While some come from being selfish, numerous potential missed opportunities on the ball are due to his insistence on playing the way he’s facing (see clips against Viktoria Köln below). Therefore, when teammates make runs beyond him, he doesn’t recognise the advantageous positions they might be in which means the team must rely on a midfielder making an extra pass. To open his view of the pitch, he must learn to receive on the half-turn and then, he will be able to play those passes and push the team forward quicker.
An area of expertise for the Bayern starlet in the passing sector is during link-up play. Utilising his stature and hold-up play, Tel finds teammates with ease. When the ball is to his feet and a teammate is close by, he often produces a snappy first-time lay-off in varying degrees of pressure. He does this mostly by using the outside of the foot to take the sting off the ball and make it easier for his teammate to collect. Concerns with his control do crop up here as when under high pressure and a need to wait for a teammate to arrive as an option, he usually turns the ball over due to issues discussed earlier.
An attacker is only worth their weight in gold if they can score effectively. Bringing together all the aforementioned traits of Tel’s game, it should be no surprise that he is well on his way to becoming a complete scorer. The combination of aerial and physical strength as well as his acceleration allows for multiple routes to goals. In tandem with those traits comes the fact he’s ambipedal, which is a massive advantage to opening different shooting angles. When the 17-year-old is balanced and has a strong base to take a shot, he can either place the finish or launch a booming shot accurately from most distances.
That doesn’t tend to be the case though as he’s eager to get his shot off in tight situations, thus ending up being off-balanced. There are two ways to solve this problem, the first of which is to take fewer bad shots. Once again, Tel’s decision-making can let him down as he either takes poor shots from bad locations or misses a teammate in a better position than him and opts to go alone. Those two situations aren’t mutually exclusive either as shown below.
The second option is to create chances for himself without the use of the ball, something he will have to do in the presence of elite forwards at Bayern. Whilst Tel possesses silky speed he rarely sits on the last line of defence. Instead, he opts to stay 2–3 metres ahead of them, which gives him two options. One is to be an option for potential link-up play whilst the other is to arrive later into the box to receive a cut-back in good space.
To take his off-ball work in the box to the next level, he should look to create space with either a sudden movement to a singular area like Erling Haaland or make double/triple movements in the centre of the box like Edinson Cavani. This is because his late arrival strategy only works in transition and so he must find ways to create space when his team is camped in the attacking half, which Bayern mostly are.
Tel also needs to mix up his movement outside the box especially exploiting his pace more often. Adding more urgency with that will help his pursuit of higher quality chances but those runs also help to open up space for his teammates.
Modern-day football emphasizes the need for everyone to be involved in all phases, including defence. Given his positional history, Tel is fantastic in this department. His infectious energy is noticeable in attacking situations but it’s even more impressive when he’s pressing. During the U17 Euros, he led the press and demanded his teammates to follow his determination to try and contain the opposition.
While work rate is a key characteristic for success in pressing, he already has impressive technique to match, often keeping defenders in his cover shadows to block potential passing lanes. In addition to that, his intelligence shines through as he reads opposition body positions superbly to frequently intercept passes. His willingness to contribute to defence is further highlighted by his fearlessness to fly into challenges, all adding up to give a player with a wonderful defensive profile.
Future Predictions
There is a lot to like about Tel’s game and there is clear evidence that the crux of a complete player is there, which at 17 is scary. Having the responsibility of captaining your nation is also something noteworthy and if reports are to be believed, Tel possesses a maturity beyond his years as well as a desire to be the best. Therefore, the trident of youth, talent and mentality indicates that Bayern have a special player for the future on their hands.
Add to that a lack of real threat for game time in the forward position, Tel could potentially have a mini-breakout campaign for Die Roten this season. In terms of his immediate impact, his skillset scales well with his great link-up play and counter-pressing key to Nagelsmann’s very narrow system, where several players occupy each vertical zone in the central areas. However, the lack of tight ball control could hamper his playing time through the middle, thus he might be given a more freeing role out wide where he can isolate in space and create from there. His physical gifts and game intelligence are areas that scale well to the elite level so acclimating to top-flight football should be easier for him than most.
