It's not a true striker. The real reason why League Two Arsenal refused to sign Tel, a different judgment from Tottenham

Feb 05, 2025

British media TBR Football article capture

'Tell is not a true striker'

Arsenal, second in the league, and Tottenham Hotspur, 14th in the league, made conflicting reviews of one player. As a result, Arsenal rejected the offer that the players had earlier offered. Tottenham, on the other hand, persuaded the coach and managed to bring in a player. Which side made the right choice can be evaluated only when it is played in practice. This is the behind-the-scenes story of recruiting Matisse Tell (20), a promising striker from France.

Tottenham dramatically succeeded in signing Tel from Bayern Munich on the last day of the January transfer window. For now, it is a rental type, and if you pay 60 million euros (about 90.2 billion won) after the season, you can fully recruit it. It is a condition to pay both 10 million euros (about 15 billion won) in rent and weekly wages while renting until the end of the 2024-2025 season.

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Tottenham, which has all of its strikers, including Dominic Solanke, Timo Werner and Wilson O'Boubert, desperately needed to recruit a striker. Therefore, I sent an offer to Munich earlier this month and even accepted it. However, things seemed to go wrong when Tel refused to go to Tottenham.

Tel, as it is known, initially refused to go to Tottenham. The club Tel wanted is Manchester United. And he also actively wanted to go to Arsenal. However, Manchester United gave up recruiting Tel because it was a waste of £5 million (about 9 billion won) in rental fees.

British media TBR Football article capture

Arsenal's reasons are a little different. Although it is necessary to recruit the striker, Tel finally decided that he was not the type of player the team wanted and stopped the recruitment process. In the end, Arsenal did not sign any players in the January transfer window.

BR Football, a British soccer media outlet, reported on the 5th (Korean time) that Arsenal's refusal to recruit Tel.

Based on what Charles Watts, a reporter familiar with Arsenal's situation, revealed to the cutoff side, the media said 'Asnall pushed for Aston Villa's recruitment of Ollie Watkins early in the transfer market. However, after Aston Villa rejected the offer, no other attempt was made', and a link with Tel was formed after '. Tel's side first induced the offer, but Arsenal rejected it'

British media TBR Football article capture

He then explained why Arsenal made such a decision. According to Watts, Arsenal decided Tel was not the type of striker needed for the team. Reporter Watts said 'Arnall was really interested in Watkins, but the transfer fee wasn't right. As for Tell, it was not the type Arsenal wanted. Arsenal wanted an authentic striker playing in the centre, but Tell was the type who preferred to play in the side.

Watts continued: "'Arnall's side attack is already well equipped. 'Because of that, I can also play in the center, but I focused more on recruiting authentic strikers than Tel, the type of forward who prefers the left side.'"

In the end, Arsenal boldly withdrew from the January transfer market with this judgment. There is a high possibility that he will go all-in to recruit an authentic striker in the summer transfer market.

Tottenham, on the other hand, made a different judgment than Arsenal. Even though there is already a clear left winger named Son Heung-min, Tel has been recruited. Tottenham also needs a central striker. Solanke's injury eliminated the destructive power of the front-line striker. Hishalisson lacks the capacity to take over. I'm considering turning the tel to the center. Or leave Tel on the left, and Son Heung-min could go back out as a one-top striker. Attention is focusing on how Arsenal and Tottenham's conflicting judgments will lead to an end.

Reporter Lee Won-man wman@sportschosun.com

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.

It's not a true striker. The real reason why League Two Arsenal refused to sign Tel, a different judgment from Tottenham

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