Manchester United and Tottenham have each made an approach to sign Koln winger Said El Mala, in line with reports in Germany.
The 19-year-old is thought to be one among the brightest young prospects in German football and has made a superb begin to his first Bundesliga campaign with six goals and two assists in 14 Bundesliga appearances.
Last month, El Mala was rewarded for his form as Julian Nagelsmann called him as much as Germany’s national team for the primary time, while in the summertime, El Mala was a key figure for Germany on the UEFA European Under-19 Championship and ended up being named within the team of the tournament.
In line with Sport Bild, United and Tottenham have now contacted Koln through intermediaries to register their interest in El Mala ahead of next summer’s transfer window.
The report claims that United and Spurs have indicated that they’d be willing to pay a transfer fee between €30 million (£30.7m) and €40m (£35m).
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Nevertheless, the Premier League duo are in competition with Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, who’re also monitoring the midfielder’s progress at Koln.
Earlier this summer, Brighton made an approach to Koln to sign El Mala but their €15m (£13.1m) offer was rejected.
The Bundesliga club are in a robust negotiating position as El Mala’s contract runs until 2030 and he doesn’t have a release clause.
‘Said has a protracted contract and he doesn’t have a release clause. As things stand today, there’s no reason to even consider it,’ Koln’s sporting director, Thomas Kessler, told Sport1.
‘If a club does come along and we as Koln have to contemplate whether it’s value taking this money and reinvesting it to enhance the squad overall at the highest, then we are going to give it some thought in some unspecified time in the future.
‘He received a brand new contract and we increased his salary. Inside this contract, Said has the chance to be even higher paid based on performance, and Koln aresuccessful and we achieve our season goals.’
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