Mathys Tel’s first day at Bayern Munich

Signed, sealed, delivered — Mathys Tel is now a Bayern Munich player, and Bild has the scoop on his first day at Säbener Straße.

Tel came on the pitch with his French colleagues Lucas Hernández (26) and Benjamin Pavard (26). With the two world champions as well as Tanguy Nianzou (20) and Bouna Sarr (30), he held the ball up in a circle.

Afterwards: warm-up and stability exercises with Pavard as a partner. Tel was immediately integrated into the French connection!

Tel only landed in Germany on Monday morning, so it’s a quick jump into the deep end of the pool. A busy, busy schedule as well — the standard two rounds of medical checks, photo sessions, media duties, and performance tests were all required before he could step onto the field. But the new man took in the changes with aplomb:

He fit in right away, moved around a lot and didn’t seem shy at all. No settling-in period — he immediately gave his all with his new Bayern colleagues.

“FC Bayern is one, if not the best teams in the world,” Tel said, echoing the sentiments of many of the new signings. “I’m really looking forward to this great challenge and will give everything for this club.”

The French connection should ease a significant transition for the young man — moving countries as well as taking a big step up in the level of competition and expectations. Tel, of course, will be Bayern’s first dart throw at replacing club legend Robert Lewandowski, who has gone to FC Barcelona.

“One day he can become one of the best strikers — that’s our plan,” head coach Julian Nagelsmann had said during the preseason Audi Tour. “He can develop into a world-class player. I have a vision that one day he will score 40 goals.”

So, uh, no pressure!

For now, Tel will wear the #39, joining Noussair Mazraoui (#40) and Ryan Gravenberch (#38) in young transfer window additions who will keep their jersey numbers across clubs. So as these rising talents write their next chapters, at least some things will stay the same.

And it means the #9 for now, figuratively as well as literally, remains open at FC Bayern.