Chelsea attempted to hijack Tottenham’s deadline day loan for Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel, only to be told they had left it too late.
The Blues had been strongly linked with a move for Tel throughout January, along with Spurs, Manchester United and Arsenal. After sending Joao Felix on loan to AC Milan, Enzo Maresca would have been keen to bring in a replacement forward.
Tel ended up joining Spurs despite rejecting Ange Postecoglou’s side initially, before having a change of heart following a phone call with the Australian coach. Tottenham negotiated an option to buy the player at the end of the loan spell for £45million.
According to French outlet L’Equipe, Chelsea were mulling over a move for Tel as news of Tottenham’s agreement came to light and tried to convince him to join Stamford Bridge instead – which happened while he was waiting at the airport to fly to London.
However, it’s claimed Chelsea left it too late as the French youngster had already decided to join their north London rivals.
It ended up being a successful window for Tottenham, who also managed to bring in defender Kevin Danso after losing Radu Dragusin for the season with an ACL blow – though a move for Chelsea’s Axel Disasi ended in failure as he joined Aston Villa instead.
Earlier in the season Spurs managed to bring in goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky after suffering a goalkeeping crisis with Guglielmo Vicario and Fraser Forster picking up injuries.
This is not the first time Chelsea have tried to hijack a Tottenham transfer. In 2013, they were successful in doing so as they infamously persuaded Willian to join them – despite already being booked in for a medical with Spurs.
Willian – who won two Premier League titles and three cups with Chelsea – recently shed a light on his brutal decision to pull the plug on his Tottenham switch, revealing that his agent told him of the Blues’ interest after he arrived at Spurs’ training ground.
He said he told his representative: “I’ll get back in the van, you’ll make do and I’ll go to Chelsea, I will not sign with Tottenham.”
Willian added: “I stayed there for eight hours in the training centre. Tottenham’s director said, ‘I’m going to report you to FIFA, this and that, fans here in England will boo you, this and that’. They made up a lot of things. I got stuck there for eight hours. Then I left and I went straight to meet the Chelsea people to sort the details and sign.”
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