Bayern’s Mathys Tel on succeeding Lewandowski, and being offered the #9 jersey

Bayern Munich’s breakout star Mathys Tel has made quite the impression lately, and continues to do so off the pitch.

When asked about being Bayern’s immediate replacement for the legendary Robert Lewandowski, the French wonderkid was simply flattered to be the one chosen by the club to succeed Lewy.

“Lewandowski was about to leave Bayern, the club was looking for a striker. Rennes wanted to keep me and there were a lot of negotiations - and as soon as Rennes decided they would let me go, Bayern let Lewandowski go. It’s flattering for me to join the club after such a great striker who did big things at Bayern,” Tel told CARRÉ (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We had a discussion about the shirt number with Hasan and Marco (Neppe). I had the choice between #9 and #39, I chose 39. Why? I didn’t want to take the 9 of Lewandowski without having done anything at Bayern, without people knowing me. I wanted to earn it. It’s a big challenge and a big motivation.”

Maturity is rare to come across in today’s wonderkids, but not for Tel. Surely, it won’t be long before he eventually dons the number himself.