Arsenal’s pursuit of Mathys Tel “never really got off the ground”, according to Gunners transfer expert Charles Watts.
The Bayern Munich forward joined Tottenham on a six-month loan on deadline day.
The French teenager initially rejected the chance to join Ange Postecoglou’s side but made a U-turn on Monday.
Surprisingly, the deal even includes an option to buy for €55million (£45.7m) plus €5m (£4.1m) in bonus payments.
Arsenal had interest in signing Tel but never accelerated despite Manchester United, Chelsea and Spurs also being linked.
👉 READ MORE: Five players stuck as transfer window closes after Marcus Rashford escape
Many Arsenal fans are adamant Mikel Arteta had to sign a new striker in January and there were reports of a bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins.
However, Gunners journalist Charles Watts says the Londoners did not come close to signing a forward player in the winter window.
“From my understanding they were never really that close to signing an attacker in January,” Watts said.
“There was genuine interest in Watkins late on in the window, but never really at the price that Aston Villa would have been looking for.
MORE ON ARSENAL FROM F365
👉 Scholes reveals two stars Arsenal should have signed in January to take Odegaard to another level
👉 Arsenal ‘close deal’ for £50m top Arteta target in Barcelona ‘betrayal’ ahead of summer move
👉 Every Premier League club’s worst player in 2024/25: Hojlund, Robertson, Merino…
“Had Villa come back to the table in the last couple of days I think Arsenal would have looked to get something done closer to their £40million valuation, but that never happened and never even looked like happening once Jhon Duran was sold.
“There was lots of chatter about Mathys Tel, but I was told that one never really got off the ground.
“There were some conversations given his obvious availability, but Arsenal were focused more on exploring moves for an out and out striker, rather than a forward who can play centrally but prefers to play off the left as they already believed they are well stocked in that area.”
Arsenal manager Arteta admitted on Tuesday that the lack of transfer activity in January was disappointing.
“We had a clear intention, which is always there when a window is open, to explore the opportunities to improve our squad with players that can impact it,” Arteta said.
“We haven’t achieved it so we are disappointed in that sense but, as well, we are very aware that we only want to bring certain kind of players and we have to be very disciplined with that as well and I think that we were.”
Back on to Tel, and German transfer expert Florian Plettenberg has revealed that despite Spurs having a buy option, the final decision will be down to the 19-year-old.
Plettenberg also confirmed that Spurs will pay a €10m loan fee on top of his salary.
FC Bayern will receive a loan fee of €10 million for Mathys Tel,’ he said.
‘In addition, Tottenham will cover five months of his salary, amounting to around €2 million gross.
For the summer, Spurs have secured an option to buy of around €55m, which can rise to €60m with bonus payments.
‘However: Tel has made sure that he will have a decisive say in whether Tottenham exercise the purchase option.
‘There is no mandatory buy clause, as Bayern had initially preferred – this was also at Tel’s request.’
👉 More: Premier League player stats | Premier League tables | Premier League five-year net spend
