Lars Ricken confirms: BVB have their eye on Said El Mala | OneFootball

It was a close call, and Said El Mala almost made Borussia Dortmund's mission for a home victory on Saturday evening against 1. FC Köln significantly more difficult. However, the rising star on the side of the Billy Goats, who had scored three times in the first seven matchdays, narrowly missed the goal in his biggest chance, free in front of Gregor Kobel, and consistently made the wrong decision in other counterattacks. Nevertheless, El Mala left an impression at Signal Iduna Park.

The BVB officials had known El Mala for some time, as his decision in the summer of 2024 was quite close for FC and against BVB. At that time, El Mala preferred the better development opportunities with the quick prospect of Bundesliga appearances and decided on an intra-city move, but he played last season on loan for Viktoria Köln.

Ricken certifies El Mala a "great development"

After the first appearances of the 19-year-old in the Bundesliga, various top clubs from home and abroad are already being considered as interested parties. From the Premier League, Manchester City, Chelsea FC, and Manchester United are reportedly taking a closer look, while in Germany, FC Bayern Munich and BVB are closely following his development – knowing that El Mala has a contract in Cologne until 2030 without a release clause, hence a transfer fee of 50 million euros and upwards is already being speculated.

BVB managing director Lars Ricken has now commented on El Mala in "Bild Sport" and expressed his admiration: "First of all, you have to say that he is really going through a great development. He was the best Cologne player alongside the goalkeeper."

Although Ricken did not want to be more specific, he did hint that El Mala is on their radar: "Of course, we observe players in this age segment extremely closely. We will look at this market and monitor Said's development."

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