Man United finally open talks to sign £30m incredible Bayern Munich forward as Ten Hag backs him to shine at Old Trafford

Man United finally open talks to sign £30m incredible Bayern Munich forward as Ten Hag backs him to shine at Old Trafford

There was a time when every young French forward who burst onto the scene usually found themselves being compared with Thierry Henry.

Particularly if they had a penchant for cutting in from the left.

These days, however, those rising stars from across the Channel tend not to be referred to as the second-coming of Henry but as the ‘new Kylian Mbappe’ instead.

It’s a moniker that came the way of Mathys Tel when swapping Rennes for Bayern Munich to the tune of nearly £20 million before his 18th birthday, and a nickname he has gone some way to justifying with a handful of explosive right-footed finishes for the German giants.

“He’s a very young, talented player who can play different positions,” said Julian Nagelsmann, who was the Bayern boss when a 17-year-old Tel arrived at the Allianz Arena in 2022.

“He is very quick, strong with his body. He’s good at defending the ball with his back towards the opponent’s goal.

“I have the vision that he could score 40 goals (in one season) one day in the future.”

Manchester United move for Mathys Tel
Still only 18, Tel is a long way away from stumping up the sort of numbers Mbappe tends to produce without breaking stride at Paris Saint-Germain these days.

But with Bayern already facing a fight hanging onto the France under-21 international – Manchester United are reportedly stepping up their pursuit of an electrifying forward they looked at last summer too – the so-called ‘next Mbappe’ could be in for his own summer of speculation while the real thing sees his Paris Saint-Germain deal run down.

“In the past few weeks, Man United have intensively analysed (Mathys Tel),” Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg writes on X. “The club have contacted his management and inquired about a potential transfer in the summer.

“Manchester United’s interest in (Bologna striker Joshua) Zirkzee is still present, but has somewhat diminished in the meantime. Tel, he’s now in the spotlight.”

Is Bayern starlet really the ‘next Kylian Mbappe’
Despite his usual superb-sub role – every one of Tel’s 17 Bundesliga appearances this season have come from the bench – the teenager still has six goals in all competitions. One of those, you may recall, came against Erik ten Hag’s Man United side in September.

With Bayern 3-2 up, Tel burst into the box with an explosion of acceleration reminiscent of Mbappe in his Monaco days before lamping the ball into the roof of Andre Onana’s net.

“You can see that he wants to score goals. That’s a great quality,” smiles Bayern icon Thomas Muller, drawing comparisons between Tel and another generation-defining wideman.

“Thinking back to when Arjen Robben was playing, we used to think he should have been looking for the pass but he was so focused on scoring. And he scored a lot.

“Mathys should keep doing his thing: firing shots in on goal. He’s a superb finisher.”