Mathys Tel has opened up on his feelings of disappointment after being left out of Tottenham Hotspur’s UEFA Champions League squad by head coach Thomas Frank ahead of the commencement of the league phase.
Tel completed a permanent switch to Tottenham from Bayern Munich in June, after spending the latter half of the 2024/2025 season on loan in North London.
However, he has found himself among the players left out of Thomas Frank’s 22-man squad for the Champions League, as Spurs continue to struggle with the balance of homegrown quotas.
The exclusion also included injured pair James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, as well as Yves Bissouma and defender Radu Drăgușin. While disappointed, Tel, who still awaits his first start of the season, remains focused on proving his worth at the club.
“Quite simply, with respect. He called me, he simply told me his choice, and then you could see the list appear on the networks,” he told reporters while on international duty with France’s Under-21s.
“It’s clear that when you’re not on a list, it definitely hurts, but I’m someone who stays pretty positive, no matter the situation, because I think I’ve worked a lot on the mental aspect, so today it’s definitely a disappointment.
“I would have liked to be there. But the coach’s choice is the coach’s choice; we can only respect it, and we’re going to work to come back in the best possible way.
“No matter, even if I was on the list, I would have had this desire, to be revengeful, to be able to be effective this season, to be able to start my season in the Premier League, because now, it’s a first long season that begins because last year it was in the form of a six-month loan.”
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