El Mala must now refocus on his club duties after narrowly missing out on Germany’s World Cup squad, with head coach Julian Nagelsmann preferring Maximilian Beier’s counter-attacking work rate.
Explaining his decision to leave the 19-year-old off the final roster, Nagelsmann said: “He had a great second half of the season, scored well. Of course, he also fits in very well with Koln’s style of play. The question was: is he ready for our style of play at a different attacking level? If you look at the heatmap in Koln, it’s close to their own goal.”
Having shown they will not enter cheap negotiations, Koln will comfortably reintegrate their star asset, who netted 13 goals in his debut season, unless another giant matches their formidable valuation.