Brentford have submitted a formal bid for FC Koln winger Said El Mala.The offer was submitted last week and but no progress has since been made in negotiations.The west London side are keen to improve their options out wide in the summer transfer window after securing a top-10 finish in Keith Andrews’ first season as head coach but narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Conference League on goal difference.Reiss Nelson will return to Arsenal when his season-long loan expires while Kevin Schade only scored two goals in his last 18 appearances.Brentford have already been active in the transfer market as they completed the signing of centre-back Jannik Schuster from Red Bull Salzburg earlier this month for €20m. In January, they signed then 18-year-old Kaye Furo from Belgian top-flight Club Brugge.Their club-record signing fee is the £42m they paid Bournemouth last summer to sign Dango Ouattara.
Who is ‘standout’ El Mala?Analysis by German football correspondent Sebastian Stafford-BloorSaid El Mala is moving fast through German football. A year ago, the 19-year-old winger was one of the players of the season in the 3.Liga, where he was on loan with Viktoria Koln. Back with his parent club — who were newly promoted to the Bundesliga in 2025-26 — he produced a compelling campaign full of direct football and highlight moments.Thirteen goals and four assists tells part of the story, but doesn’t capture the excitement of El Mala’s breakthrough. He is a tall, physical player, full of pace and loaded with flair. It’s ironic, given that he was released by Borussia Monchengladbach for being too slight as a teenager, but the key to his impact — typically from the left hand side in a wide forward role — is a forceful dynamism that has really made him standout in Germany this season, despite his inexperience. There’s a fearlessness to him. A disregard for reputations.In fact, while his season had ups and downs, valleys and peaks which mirrored Koln’s own form, he very nearly played well enough to make Julian Nagelsmann’s World Cup squad. El Mala has already been called up by Nagelsmann but is yet to be capped and there are many in the country who disagree with that decision; they wanted him in the squad and would have been happy to see Leroy Sane omitted to accommodate him.That describes how quickly El Mala’s reputation has grown. He needs refinement, certainly. There were concerns at Koln about his defensive acumen and work rate, flaws which saw him return to the bench in the middle of the season, but those are issues that most young players experience and hardly constitute a red flag.Watching him develop will be a lot of fun, wherever that happens.May 26, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms
