10 hours ago
1 ARTICLE AD
Troy Deeney slammed criticism of Tottenham's Mathys Tel as 'massively unfair' but one January signing did not escape the former Watford star's wrath.
Tel's temporary switch to North London from Bayern Munich, which could turn permanent if Tottenham take up the £50million option to do so, generated plenty of buzz.
3
After all, the 19-year-old winger had been courted by the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United once it was clear Bayern were willing to loan him out.
But one phone call from Ange Postecoglou convinced the teenager to join.
Six games later and Tel has just one goal to his name - a consolation strike in a 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa - and was hooked at half-time during Tottenham's dismal 1-0 loss to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League last Thursday.
Yet Deeney was quick to protect the teenager and deemed criticism of Tel 'massively unfair.'
"He's moving countries, he's in London," Deeney told talkSPORT.com.
"I don't care what anyone says, London has distractions, as we all know.
"You're now trying to learn a team, a team that's depleted and injury-prone. By the way, you're meant to go in and enforce that and change it.
"He hasn't played enough games to know who and what he is. So I think it's massively unfair.
"You won't see the best of him, probably not next season, but the season after. But they're going to have to put a framework in and around him."
Deeney was also quick to stress it is incredibly difficult to create space for a player like Tel, who has bucketloads of potential, to grow in the environment he finds himself in at Tottenham.
3
Instead, it's all about the here and now, especially since Tottenham's hopes for a trophy hang by a thread following the loss to AZ.
It's why Deeney is always reluctant to hype up young talents as they find their feet in the professional game.
"When you go into Spurs, you can't have promise," Deeney said.
"Come in and play, change us, fix us now. That's the difference. That's why I'm always keen to not over-praise young players because they do this.
"All of us did this. They have one good game, three good games, then maybe have four bad ones. We're just getting used to it, we're emotional, we're all over the place.
"You don't know what you're doing for the first 100 games, I don't care what anyone says."
3
Deeney's stance on younger players explains why he unafraid to be incredibly critical of one piece of Tottenham's January business: Kevin Danso.
Danso joined the north London side on loan from Lens, but Tottenham have an obligation to make it permanent for £21m in the summer.
Tottenham nipped in at the last minute to hijack Wolves' deal for Danso as Postecoglou desperately sought reinforcements at centre-back thanks to a multitude of injuries to defenders.
The mere fact Tottenham felt compelled to move for a player initially destined for Wolves, who sit 17th in the Premier League, said it all for Deeney about the club's recruitment.
"None of the players that they have brought in have hit the ground running," Deeney said.
"Again, Spurs fans are going to go mad but this is the harsh truth. The centre-half, Danso, was going to go to Wolves. That's it, enough said.
Jason Cundy falls asleep during Jamie O'Hara's brutal rant about Tottenham
"He was at Southampton when I was running past him, and I can't run past f*** all. You've wasted money. [Radu] Dragusin, £25million on Dragusin. There's £50m on two centre-halves who are f****** s***.
"You've got to look at recruitment. Again, the two centre-halves I'm on about, you're going to be mad at me, but it's the truth. I've watched enough football to know this Premier League ain't for you."
With Tottenham only a draw away from bowing out of the Europa League, many will hope Tel can ignite a stagnant attack for the second leg on Thursday.
However, Postecoglou and his side have the more pressing issue of a Premier League fixture to worry about as they host high-flying Bournemouth on Sunday.
Defeat to the Cherries would mark Tottenham's 15th league defeat this term and would undoubtedly add to what is already a tense atmosphere amongst supporters given their reaction to Guglielmo Vicario attempting to rally them after the AZ loss.
