Last year Said El Mala was playing in the German third tier for his local club, Viktoria Köln. Now the 19-year-old winger is starring in the Bundesliga, has an outside chance of making Germany’s World Cup squad and has attracted interest from Brighton & Hove Albion.
So keen are Brighton on El Mala that they are prepared to sign his older brother, Malek, as well. They first made an approach to sign El Mala last summer after he played a starring role in 3. Liga — Germany’s third division — while on loan from Köln.
The move did not transpire as Köln saw him as crucial to their plans. Since the start of the current campaign El Mala has become the focal point of Köln’s team, exciting fans in the same vein as Lukas Podolski did when he first emerged as a homegrown forward some 22 years ago.
El Mala challenges England’s Ethan Nwaneri in an U19 game in 2024. The German received his first senior call-up last year
JURIJ KODRUN/THE FA VIA GETTY IMAGES
So far El Mala has scored eight goals in 23 league games despite receiving only limited playing time for most of the season. The FC Köln manager Lukas Kwasniok has granted his young winger only ten appearances in his starting XI in the Bundesliga, occasionally arguing that El Mala, with his speed and one-on-one abilities, would be more effective as an impact substitute in the final stretches of a game against a tiring defence.
El Mala has scored four times and set up another three off the bench, compared to four goals and one assist when starting. It would be understandable for Köln to carefully manage his workload if they had a plethora of attacking talent but that is not the case. Jakub Kaminski, the Poland forward, and the striker Ragnar Ache are the only real game-changers up front.
Brighton made another attempt in January, offering roughly £22million as a transfer fee and a weekly salary of £58,000. The idea of loaning El Mala back to Köln until June was also discussed, as was signing his brother Malek. Malek, who is 16 months older and a striker rather than a winger, is only playing for Köln’s reserve team in the fourth division at the moment, but the two are quite close and have played together when possible. They were even together on loan to Viktoria Köln last season.
However, the Köln sporting director, Thomas Kessler, rejected any approaches in January.
El Mala expressed his displeasure over Kwasniok with the club’s board and is even frustrated with the coach’s jokes
RALF IBING – FIRO SPORTPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
Trailing by a goal to Stuttgart a week ago, Kwasniok brought on El Mala and the striker Luca Waldschmidt for two defenders after 68 minutes and the two made an immediate impact. Waldschmidt set up the equaliser, but Stuttgart ultimately won thanks to two late goals. Games like these once again raise the question of whether Kwasniok should entrust his young winger with a more important role, but the 44-year-old manager sees it somewhat differently.
“It has become more difficult for him, regardless of whether he starts games or not. The opponents adapt to defend him more and more,” Kwasniok said before Köln’s home game against Hoffenheim on Saturday, where El Mala nevertheless started the match as Köln and Hoffenheim played out a 2-2 draw. “The next step for him will be to succeed under more difficult circumstances.”
El Mala showed poise against Hoffenheim when he scored the equaliser in the second half. Kaminski set El Mala up for a one-on-one against the Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, but instead of simply shooting with his stronger right foot, El Mala pulled the ball to the left and thus got away from two defenders chasing and closing up on him.
“I was the last to celebrate with him, because I was the furthest away,” Köln defender Joël Schmied said after the game. “He told me that he was super happy that it finally had worked out again. There is so much pressure on this guy.” Before his goal against Hoffenheim, El Mala had gone goalless for six consecutive games.
As for his general situation, he is not happy with warming the bench by any means. He voiced his displeasure about Kwasniok in talks with Köln’s hierarchy in late January. The club bosses approached El Mala to discuss his future, but the talks apparently took a bit of an unexpected turn.
Malek El Mala, 20, has never played in the Bundesliga and would be unlikely to feature for Brighton in the short term were the move to go ahead
CHRISTOF KOEPSEL/GETTY IMAGES
It is not just El Mala’s present role but many little things that also displease him. Even some of the small jokes that Kwasniok likes to make don’t hit home. Kwasniok’s job is not secure by any stretch — he was under considerable pressure only a few weeks ago before Köln beat Mainz at home after a stretch of eight winless games in a row.
At the same time, El Mala suggested that he could imagine signing with Brighton in the summer. The expectation is that the Premier League side will make another attempt to secure El Mala’s services soon, possibly submitting another offer way before the end of the season. Meanwhile, Köln are in a somewhat comfortable position as El Mala surprisingly signed a contract extension until June 2030 last summer, with no release clause included.
Köln’s hierarchy are still hoping that the winger, who was born in the region, could decide to stay with the club for one more year, as unlikely as it increasingly seems. Then there is also a scenario in which El Mala is picked by the Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann for the 2026 World Cup, and a few appearances on such a grand stage could significantly increase his market value. Nagelsmann selected him for the first time in November for qualifiers against Luxembourg and Slovakia, though El Mala didn’t make an appearance.
It is understood that Brighton’s idea to persuade him by signing Malek remains on the table. Malek, who is presently sidelined due to a muscle tear and has yet to appear in a Bundesliga game, wouldn’t be much of an option for Brighton’s first team in the immediate future. However, it could prove the difference as interest grows in Germany’s latest rising star.