Mathys Tel opens up on painful phone call from Thomas Frank after Tottenham decision

Mathys Tel admits it hurt when Thomas Frank called him to tell him he would be left out of Tottenham's Champions League squad.

Spurs have long had problems with European squad registration due to a lack of club-trained players and a surplus of non-locally trained ones and that meant new head coach Frank had to leave out six senior stars from his squad to play in the eight league phase matches of the Champions League in the coming months.

The Dane decided to leave out the injured James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, centre-backs Radu Dragusin and Kota Takai, midfielder Yves Bissouma and Tel, despite the 20-year-old Frenchman having only signed for Tottenham in a £30million deal from Bayern Munich in the summer after his loan move was made permanent.

Tel explained to the media while on France U21 international duty how Frank had let him know the disappointing news.

"Quite simply, with respect. He called me, he simply told me his choice and then you could see the list appear on the networks," said the attacker, as quoted by Le Telegramme.

"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."

Tel was asked whether it had made him want to leave Spurs or simply do better to take his own form of revenge on the decision to exclude him from the Champions League squad.

"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," he said.

"A desire elsewhere? I am under contract with Tottenham [until 2031], so I am a Tottenham player and I will do my best to be able to play quite simply."

Tel admits that his initial half-season loan spell with Spurs could have gone better as he struggled to hit the ground running in an injury-ravaged Tottenham side without a striker.

"Knowing what I'm capable of, knowing all the abilities I have, I think I could have done better," he said. "In any case, we can all do better, but I would say that it's an encouraging setup. Why? Because it forces me to know the weak points, the things to improve, so there's always room for improvement that we have to aim for. Whether in life in London or on the pitch, I think it can be better, everything can be better, absolutely everything.

"I learned that no matter the situation, no matter why you're called to a club, you have to be patient because there are times when it happens, times when it doesn't. That's life. Sometimes there are things we deserve, that we don't receive.

"But in life, do we get everything we deserve? Not often. I've grown in maturity, in experience, and I think that today it has shaped my personality and, I would say, my character especially."

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