Due to FC’s transfer ban, the duo will initially stay at Viktoria on loan in 2024. In the 2024/25 season, Said achieved his final breakthrough: in 32 games he scored 13 times, prepared five goals and was voted newcomer of the season in the 3rd league.
At the U19 European Championship, El Mala caused a stir as the top scorer with four goals and three assists. Shortly afterwards, the first offers from England arrived in Cologne.
Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion are said to have offered up to 20 million euros – even though El Mala had not yet played a single Bundesliga minute at the time.
“I’m relatively relaxed about it. It doesn’t affect me,” says the striker. “Of course I’m happy when other clubs are interested or you’re in the media more. But it’s important to me to stay clear in my head. I think that’s me. I’m not imagining anything about it because I have a lot planned for the coming seasons.” Meanwhile, selling is not an option for FC. Sports director Thomas Kessler extends Said and Malek until 2030, without an exit clause.
Said El Mala has now made six Bundesliga appearances, five of them as a joker. He has already scored two goals and an assist. In the club’s history, only Jonas Hector, Anthony Modeste and Lukas Podolski were more valuable than El Mala at 20 million euros each.
What makes El Mala special is his carefree style of play: bold dribbling, tight ball control, speed, one-on-one – football the way you learn it on the street. “We spent a lot of time at the football field, where you just do extraterrestrial things,” he says. “When I get the ball, I immediately go one-on-one. If I lose the ball, I get it back and go in again next time. That’s stored in my head.”
Even national coach Julian Nagelsmann recently said during the international break: El Mala is “a great player” who will “certainly also be a top player”, although he “still has steps to take”. Lukas Podolski, with whom he is often compared, praises: “He goes for it, he does it, he goes.”
At FC they want to curb the hype. El Mala should concentrate on football, interviews and public appearances are taboo for the time being. Coach Lukas Kwasniok regularly emphasizes the importance of patience. Whether El Mala will live up to the high expectations remains to be seen. But with his down-to-earth parents’ home and close relationship with his brother Malek, he seems prepared.
Said El Mala is the epitome of a modern street footballer: playful, direct, fearless. The fact that his path leads through setbacks, amateur places and a bit of chance makes it all the more exciting. Perhaps that is exactly his greatest advantage: he was never ironed out – but rather learned to assert himself on the football field.