Tottenham ace sends message to Roberto De Zerbi at exactly the right time ahead of Man Utd clash

Mathys Tel has sent a clear message to Roberto De Zerbi after the young Tottenham Hotspur forward scored a hat-trick for France under-21s on Tuesday night.

The Frenchman, who turned 21 this year, netted his second career treble in their 7-1 U21 EURO qualifier win over Switzerland. Tel, who captained the side, has had a very productive international break, scoring five goals in four games.

Tel scored France under-21s' only goal in the 1-1 draw away against Iceland and also netted the winner at home against Luxembourg to book his country's place at the Euros. He will now return to north London in a confident mood and is expected to meet up with his team-mates in the coming days.

Signed for £29.8million from Bayern Munich last summer after initially joining on loan in January 2025, Tel has been on the receiving end of his fair share of criticism already for his performances in a Spurs shirt. To be fair to the former Rennes man he was thrown into Premier League life at a time when Spurs were struggling both with injuries and their form, and he had to adapt to the fast and physical league as a target man with others out.

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Tel is yet to register a goal or an assist in six appearances for Tottenham this season and was left out of the matchday squad entirely for the 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa before the international break. De Zerbi revealed that it was a “technical decision” to leave him out but while Tel has frustrated, it seemed strange to not have him as a bench option.

The Italian boss has previously called on more from the young forward and the head coach could be seen airing his frustrations at Tel on the pitch after the goalless draw against Everton.

"Yes, I coached him on the pitch," De Zerbi said. "The body shape of a striker. The striker can play with the shoulder on the goal. If we are playing with [James] Maddison, [Mohammed] Kudus and Savio, he has to play as a striker, and the striker has to look at the goal, no?

"Or on the cross of Robertson. He has to stay inside because he started [his career] as a striker. Now he's playing as a winger, but he started in his career as a striker."

He added: "But I love Mathys as a player, as a guy. There is not a problem."

After an impressive international break, Tel will now turn his attention to club football yet again and hope he can return to the matchday squad for the trip to Manchester United on Saturday. He will have one or two training sessions with De Zerbi to try and persuade the Italian he has enough to be named in the travelling party and even in the starting XI.

Tel is Tottenham's most in-form forward at the moment, but whether De Zerbi uses him is a different question.