Overview
- Clubs and Köln remain locked in a price gap after Dortmund’s reported offer of about €35 million plus two loan players was rejected.
- Brentford earlier agreed terms worth up to €50 million but the deal collapsed when El Mala’s camp withdrew from talks.
- El Mala scored 13 goals and supplied 5 assists in 2025–26 while appearing in every match, and his contract runs until 2030 which reduces Köln’s pressure to sell.
- Sky Germany reporting says El Mala and his family would consider a move to Dortmund, but BVB have internal doubts and may wait on Karim Adeyemi’s possible departure to create space.
- Clubs can still bridge the gap with performance add‑ons, staged payments, loan swaps or sell‑on clauses, so the outcome will depend on financial engineering and the player’s destination preference.