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Said El Mala burst onto the scene quickly in the Bundesliga last season, hitting the ground running for FC Köln after coming up from the third division. Mohamed wrote about his quick rise last winter, and he only improved his production from there.
El Mala finished the season as one of the absolute best shooters among wingers in the big 5 leagues.
And his volume of high quality shots in just under 2200 league minutes is about as good as it gets. El Mala was excellent at running at defenders with the ball, running in behind, and finding space to receive passes to feet. He was especially effective at using his direct and ambitious dribbling to create great shots for himself.
Borussia Dortmund have been trying to sign El Mala this summer, but aren’t willing to meet Köln’s asking price of €50m guaranteed. It seems unlikely that Goat Team is going to budge on their valuation, given that El Mala himself is not pushing the issue.
But given the fees that Premier League teams have been paying for young attackers with much worse numbers in recent years, I’m wondering why one of them doesn’t simply wire FC Köln €50m? Obviously the player himself would need to be interested in a move to England, and he might not feel it’s the right time for that, but I’d personally be pushing my team’s recruitment department to try.
Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa, for instance, strike me as teams that could seriously use an El Mala-like substance at a €50m-like price point.
More transfer rumours
Chelsea have apparently set a deadline of today for Enzo Fernandez bids, though I can’t imagine they’ll stick to that if he wants to leave and someone meets their £120m asking price. He’s been most closely linked to Manchester City, who have sold Tijjani Reijnders and are negotiating to sell Rodri, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see this happen.
A much more surprising rumour is this one claiming Martin Zubimendi could be his replacement at an £80m fee. The number of reports linking Arsenal to sales to direct rivals is wild.
Speaking of crazy Arsenal rumours, the Victor Osimhen ones aren’t going away. He makes more than their current top earners (in excess of £300k a week), so I’d be surprised to see it happen, but it sure would be fun to watch and he’d undoubtedly make them better.
The Gunners are also being linked to a lot of expensive center backs, which doesn’t seem like the best use of limited resources, even given William Saliba’s injury. Ezri Konsa and Jarell Quansah would both cost in excess of £60m, which does not sound like good value for either.
Manchester United have opened talks with Club Brugge for fullback Joaquin Seys, and I have to say I’m a bit skeptical of this profile. He’s a good athlete and defender, but you’d expect better ball progression and/or dribbling numbers out of a fullback moving from Belgium straight to the Premier League.
Some big winger transfer dominos appear to be falling, finally. Mika Godts to PSG is just about over the line, which makes Bradley Barcola very much for sale. Reporting is now putting the price at a more reasonable €125m, rather than the original €150m. And if he joins Liverpool, that could make Cody Gakpo to Tottenham for about £60m a realistic proposition. It’s a bit ridiculous, but it feels like this is all going to happen?
West Ham have collected quite a bit of money for sales, but £22m for Arne Engels from Celtic still feels like a very large purchase for a Championship club. Engels had a bit of a down year with the rest of the Celtic squad, but I think the Hammers cooked buying the dip on this one. Engels was special the previous season.
Newcastle are being linked to Carlos Baleba, which makes sense, but I don’t think Brighton will sell. He was fetching £80m+ interest last summer before having a down year and lowering his market value. With Baleba having 3 years left on his contract, I’d be willing to bet on a bounce back season if I was the Seagulls.
Having already signed youngster Zavier Gozo, Crystal Palace are signing another right wingback, Anan Khalaili from USG. Presumably this means they’ve decided it’s a good time to cash in on 30-year-old Daniel Muñoz, who’s been linked to Everton, among others.
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