Fabian Hürzeler’s exit from Brighton & Hove Albion manager can hand Chelsea an advantage in the race for 1. FC Köln’s Said El Mala.
The winger has been on Brighton’s agenda for a long time and FC Köln turned down their offers in the last two windows.
That didn’t put off Brighton to continue their pursuit and Chelsea have joined them in the transfer race.
The Bundesliga side signed the 19-year-old from Viktoria Köln in June 2024 and sent him back on loan.
Last summer, he arrived at FC Köln and has enjoyed an impressive debut season, scoring 10 goals and contributing four assists from 29 matches. His Bundesliga stats per game are as follows.
- Expected Goals [per season]: 7.41
- Expected Assists [per season]: 1.82
- Key passes: 0.4
- Shots on target: 0.8
- Goal conversion: 19%
- Big chances missed: 12
Last Thursday, Sport Witness covered claims from Germany that the Blues are prepared to pay €45m, €5m more than FC Köln’s demand. Earlier this week, we relayed news that Brighton’s next offer will be the final one.
Chelsea can snatch signing from Brighton’s clutches
Bild now cover the latest on the Seagulls’ ongoing pursuit of Said El Mala and also about the Blues’ interest.
The player ‘wants to move to England’ after this season where both Chelsea and Brighton are keen.
The latter have made advances by submitting concrete offers both to him and his brother, Malek, who is also at FC Köln. This and their manager put The Amex club ahead.
Fabian Hürzeler has been chasing El Mala for a year, while he’s in contention to replace Kasper Hjulmand at Bayer Leverkusen. Other unnamed clubs also have the manager on their radar.
Brighton securing a quick agreement and Hürzeler leaving after this season is a ‘horror scenario’ for the player. Therefore, the Germany U21 international is weighing his options.
Bild state: ‘The coaching situation not only plays into the hands of clubs like Chelsea, who are also interested in El Mala, but it could also prolong the transfer saga.’
The Seagulls insist they want him irrespective of whether Hürzeler’s stays. However, the German has a decision to make and the ‘horror scenario’ benefits Liam Rosenior’s side.
El Mala contract, value and agent info
Last July, Said El Mala signed a contract extension until 2030, without making his debut for the German club. At that time, his value, as per Transfermarkt, was €3m.
During the course of this season, it increased to €18m [in October] to 40m [in December] before dropping to €35m in March.
He recently parted ways with his agent and is now represented by his parents.
