Mathys Tel will return to Hotspur Way in confident mood after hitting a double for France Under-21s on Monday evening. Joining Tottenham on loan from Bayern Munich at the end of the January transfer window, Spurs do have the option to sign the youngster for £45.8million in the summer.

However, Ange Postecoglou’s words at the beginning of February do already seem to suggest that Tel will be remaining in north London beyond the end of the campaign. Getting plenty of game time since his move due to the absence of Dominic Solanke and Richarlison in attack, Tel has one goal in seven games since swapping Bavaria for N17.

Tel has been an unused substitute on a couple of occasions for Tottenham but he did look sharper when deployed on the left-wing in the recent 2-0 defeat against Fulham, notably forcing Bernd Leno into a smart save with a curling effort. Having quite the challenge on his hands to secure a first-team place with virtually all of the team’s attackers now back from injury, the international break was always going to be important for the player to help give him a boost for the remainder of the season.

The 19-year-old could only watch on from the bench last Friday as Hugo Ekitike scored a hat-trick in France Under-21s’ 5-3 win over their English counterparts. Tel would replace the Eintracht Frankfurt hotshot for the final 24 minutes of the contest but he unfortunately did not get his name on the scoresheet in his limited pitch time.

Back in action on Monday with an away fixture against Slovenia Under-21s, Tel was named in France’s front three and operated from the left flank in what was a much-changed XI. The Spurs loanee made an immediate impact on proceedings with a goal from the left on 20 minutes after receiving the ball on the edge of the area

Drifting into the box with two opponents closing him down, the attacker expertly found the far corner with a curling effort that gave the goalkeeper no chance. His second goal of the contest three minutes later was just as impressive as he lifted the ball over the advancing Adam Danko.

His strike all came about from a smart piece of movement across his marker to get on the end of Arnaud Kalimuendo’s precise through ball. Tel didn’t even need a touch to steady himself as he dinked the ball over the shot-stopper from 15 yards out to double his and France’s tally.

It was a sumptuous finish and certainly not one of a player maybe lacking in confidence after scoring once in seven games for Tottenham so far. Tel’s night would come to an end on 64 minutes as Thierno Barry replaced him with the team 3-0 to the good.

Tottenham teammate Wilson Odobert, who teed up two of Ekitike’s hat-trick three days earlier, came on for the final 14 minutes of the contest as France Under-21s secured a 4-0 win. Both Odobert and Tel have enjoyed strong international breaks for their country and the hope will be that they can carry on their good form when Spurs take on Chelsea and Southampton prior to face Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-finals.

In terms of Tel, patience is perhaps going to be needed when it comes to the French youngster wowing on the Premier League stage as he needs to fully adapt to life in England. Postecoglou made that point at the beginning of March, mentioning that people will realise what a talent his player is once used properly.

“The reason I took him off is I just thought we needed a spark, we needed something. It wasn’t about him because I could have taken of any one of a number of players. It’s just it felt like I needed something to change the course of events,” said the Australian the day after their round of 16 defeat away at AZ Alkmaar.

“Mathys came in a really tricky time for us in that it’s different if you haven’t been playing regularly and then jump in but he’s kind of been trying to build up his fitness. At the same time we’ve been putting him out there pretty regularly because of our lack of options. He’s still a young man, it’s a different league and there are different demands. Certainly at the moment we are not in our best moment like last night when he is going to get loads of chances.

“Again, working with him since he came in, he’s got a really strong head on his shoulders and last night, as disappointed as he was to come off, it didn’t seem to affect him in terms of his mental aptitude to deal with it and get on with it and try and make an impact in the best way he can.

“It’s fair to say we’ve put a lot on a very young player and introduced him to our league. I remember Lucas [Bergvall] was a similar one at the beginning of the year. He struggled a little bit in certain games, especially in Europe. He struggled a couple of times but over time we’ve seen him flourish and I’m sure once we can get Dom back in and hopefully Richy not too far in the future, we can use him in the way we want to.”

Starting from the left side in Tottenham’s last Premier League game, Tel will have his fingers crossed that he has done enough to earn another starting berth for the trip to Chelsea. Ahead of the club’s final decision on the £45.8million transfer deal this summer, Tel has nine Premier League games to make his case and hopefully five more in the Europa League.