Mathys Tel in training on Säbener Straße. There the attacker convinces with goal urgency and speed
Source: dpa/Ulrich Gamel
The FC Bayern strikers have mostly remained without a goal recently. A reason for the crisis of the master. Before the game against Hertha BSC, Mathys Tel hopes for his chance. Lothar Matthäus is amazed at how the 18-year-old super talent was treated.
Et is a very special week at FC Bayern. First, the team had three days off in a row, which doesn’t happen often with the German soccer record champions. In the middle of the week, honorary president Uli Hoeneß came to the training ground on Säbener Straße and talked to coach Thomas Tuchel before the practice session. The photos of the scene caused discussions in the Bundesliga, so present was “Mr. FC Bayern” for a long time.
The most unusual thing for Munich is their lack of success at the moment. They have been without a win for three weeks and four games. Comedian and moderator Sebastian Pufpaff just mocked on “TV Total”: “The last time Bayern won, there was still nuclear energy in Germany.” The last nuclear power plants in the Federal Republic went offline in mid-April.
Bayern have only scored five goals in the past six games. Only one goal was scored by a striker: Sadio Mané scored in the embarrassing 3-1 draw against 1. FSV Mainz 05 last Saturday. Even the game against the bottom of the table – otherwise always a mandatory task – now appears to be a greater challenge: Sunday (3.30 p.m., in the WELT sports ticker) the champions welcome the relegation candidates Hertha BSC.
Before the game, fans and experts are curious to see whether Tuchel will change anything in the starting eleven again. His plan didn’t work out recently, Thomas Müller said in Mainz that his own game was wrong, Serge Gnabry doesn’t help much as a substitute. In Munich, many are wondering: Is it now the time for Mathys Tel?
30 million per year offered
The attacker turned 18 on Thursday. And is in a way the last striker option in Bayern’s squad. A “real nine” has been missing since Robert Lewandowski’s departure. Bayern offered a salary of up to 30 million euros a year for Erling Haaland, and the star striker is now said to earn around one million euros a week at Manchester City. Other candidates were too expensive or not at the required level.
The club management thought that Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting as well as Müller, Gnabry, Mané and Leroy Sané were options for the top for at least one season. At the time, that was a partly legitimate assumption, after all, they are all experienced offensive players who have proven their flexibility in recent years. But when it comes to evaluating chances, the entire offensive has been disappointing for a long time.
So is Tel the solution now? Sports director Hasan Salihamidzic once said that this player feels comfortable in several positions, including in the middle and at the top. Tel made his professional debut at the age of 16, switched from Stade Rennes to Munich last summer for more than 20 million. At the time, Tuchel’s predecessor, Julian Nagelsmann, who was released in March, said that Tel should “one day score 40 goals per season” – and already believed him to be capable of ten goals this season.
Nagelsmann usually replaced Tel, the French junior international scored five goals under him. None under Tuchel. “Unfortunately, he was injured when we started,” said the new coach before the game in Mainz. Tel first played the role of a substitute. “He has a youthful enthusiasm and drive. But we have to channel that so that he understands when to go and when not to where. He did well a couple of times as a substitute,” said Tuchel.
Tel is number two in the center of attack behind Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. In March he was absent with a hamstring tear. In the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Manchester City, Tuchel did not let him play from the start despite Choupo-Moting’s absence.
Choupo-Moting signed his new contract until 2024 at the beginning of March, doubling his salary to around ten million euros a year. The 34-year-old has not scored for six weeks, first injured his back and now his knee.
“Why don’t I let the boy play much more?”
Lothar Matthäus is surprised at how he deals with Tel. midfielder Ryan Gravenberch and the striker “didn’t get too many fair chances,” writes the record national player in his Sky column. “If I already have a storm problem, why don’t I let the boy play much more? He has everything to become a great striker. And Gravenberch could have been brought in much more often, if not actually should.” Instead of Gravenberch, Leon Goretzka played in central midfield alongside Joshua Kimmich – and, like almost all Bayern pros, was disappointing in the end.
Whether in the starting eleven or as a substitute: Tel could be valuable for Bayern in the four weeks until the end of the season. “We see his qualities. It has explosiveness and a strong finish. He has to keep that,” said Tuchel.
Tel’s contract with Bayern runs until June 30, 2025. A loan deal next summer could help the top talent get more match practice. It has not yet been decided how FC Bayern will proceed. Tuchel said: “Loan, keep – we’ll do that at the end of August, not before.”
For the new season, the Munich team definitely want to sign a top striker, and the transfer fee could even break the magic 100 million euro mark. Tuchel sees a new attacker as an elementary building block for a new, functioning axis in his team. The 49-year-old is in the process of discussing and analyzing which type of striker is likely to help his Bayern team the most.
