BVB appear to have fallen definitively behind in the transfer tug-of-war over Said El Mala. Instead, another club have now reportedly registered their interest with 1. FC Köln.
AS Roma are in the market for a new left winger and have also put the 19-year-old attacker on their shortlist, according to Geissblog.
The Giallorossi also seem ready to put Cologne’s €50 million asking price on the table. Roma were recently linked with Frankfurt’s Jean-Matteo Bahoya, with a fee of €45 million under discussion. That suggests the Romans would be prepared to spend a similar amount on El Mala.
Whether El Mala wants Roma and Serie A is another matter. According to information from Sky, the seven-time Germany Under-21 international does not currently see his immediate future in Italy.
Meanwhile, a move for the 19-year-old to Borussia Dortmund now appears to be definitively off. According to Geissblog, Cologne viewed the financial terms as inadequate, but what particularly angered the Effzeh hierarchy was the conduct of the Black and Yellows.
More specifically, Cologne were “not in agreement with the manner in which Dortmund are said to have tried to influence the player in order to make a move more likely”, it says verbatim. As a result, those at the Geißbockheim internally agreed to break off all negotiations with Borussia immediately.
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Getty ImagesWill RB Leipzig also pull out of the battle for Said El Mala?
In the Bundesliga, only RB Leipzig are now said to be left as a possible suitor. According to Geissblog , though, the Saxony club have told 1. FC Cologne that they currently neither can nor want to meet the asking price.
A twist would only come if Leipzig raise extra funds through the sale of Yan Diomande. Only then would they have the resources needed to make another move for El Mala.
For all the speculation, the youngster is showing his quality on the pitch in pre-season. In Thursday’s 8-0 friendly win over Bergisch Gladbach, the attacker scored his first goal of the current campaign.