BVB rumour over El Mala: Klopp sets the record straight | OneFootball

Following the rumors surrounding Said El Mala, Jürgen Klopp has now made his position very clear. The new national team coach has put an end to speculation about a possible move to BVB.

Jürgen Klopp has spoken in detail for the first time about the rumors involving Said El Mala and Borussia Dortmund. The new national team coach firmly rejected reports claiming he had advised the 19-year-old 1. FC Köln attacking player to move to BVB.

On his first official working day as national team coach, Klopp made it clear that no such conversation with El Mala had taken place. Reports about an alleged recommendation for his former club even left him puzzled. “It offended me a little that people think I’d be stupid enough, in my very first official act, to call a player and tell him: ‘BVB would suit you well.’ Of course I didn’t do that. That’s not my job,” Klopp told DFB-TV.

The 59-year-old also stressed that he has not yet held any talks with potential national team players. He said there had been contact with youth national team coaches and individual Bundesliga coaches, among others. As a matter of principle, he does not want to interfere in his players’ transfer decisions unless asked.

Klopp clears up the rumors about El Mala and BVB

The situation could be different if a player Klopp has worked with for a long time personally asks him for his opinion. In that case, advice would certainly be possible. What matters, he said, is solely the individual player’s situation, not Klopp’s past with a particular club. Speaking about the specific case, he said: “Said El Mala is certainly a nice guy, but of course we didn’t talk about it.”

Photo: Lars Baron/Getty Images

A move from Köln to Dortmund is off the table this summer anyway. After lengthy negotiations, BVB withdrew from the transfer race on Friday. According to media reports, Köln were demanding around €50 million for El Mala, whose contract runs until 2030 and does not include a release clause.

BVB managing director Carsten Cramer explained the withdrawal by pointing to the financial scale of the deal. “We are bold, but at the end of the day we also have to keep things in perspective,” he told Sky. Dortmund had been willing to take a risk, he said, but must not become “reckless or even megalomaniacal.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.