René Wagner lauds Said El Mala amid exit talks

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Cologne head coach René Wagner has praised Said El Mala’s attitude ahead of the club’s training camp in Austria.

“The lad is a Cologne player, and that’s how he presents himself every day,” expressed Wagner on El Mala, who has considerable interest from the Premier League, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig. “He doesn’t give any player or staff member the impression that his mind is elsewhere. Said throws himself into everything. I think you can see that he’s involved in every challenge, he tracks back defensively, and he obviously has quality – we all know that.”

Wagner added: “We’re all adults here. Of course, we talk about the interest there was over the summer but right now, Said is here at training, and he’ll be here for the next few weeks as things stand and if anything comes up, then we can sit down and talk.”

Cologne demand at least €50m for El Mala, who scored 13 goals and provided five assists in his maiden Bundesliga campaign last season, which could prove a stumbling block for Dortmund – but once Karim Adeyemi’s move to Barcelona is confirmed, die Schwarzgelben could reinvest a percentage of that fee into pursuing El Mala.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder