Said El Mala: Why Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann has called up teenage Koln sensation wanted by both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund

El Mala was born and raised in Krefeld in western Germany. Both he and his brother Malek - who is one year older than Said and also on Koln's books - got their love of the game from their Lebanese father Mohammed, who played as a centre-back for local side Linner SV. El Mala briefly followed in his father's footsteps before joining Malek at Borussia Monchengladbach in 2017. However, he was released three years later.

"Said was still very small back then, making him extremely inferior athletically to his opponents and not competitive at that level," El Mala's former coach at the Gladbach Under-15s, Sven Schuchardt, told Bild. "Some boys simply need a little more time to develop."

El Mala was nonetheless devastated by the rejection. "It wasn't easy to process," he later admitted in an interview with Radio Koln. "Everything turning around, just like that. As a 14-year-old, you ask yourself: What did I do wrong?"

He even considered quitting the game and was only convinced to continue by Malek. The two brothers would ultimately reunite at TSV Meerbusch and then again at Viktoria Koln, where they excelled in the same Under-19s team. 

El Mala's impressive performances at youth level led to him making his senior debut in a third-tier clash with FC Saarbrucken on February 21, 2004 - just two days after signing his first professional contract with Viktoria. However, just four months later, he was snapped up by Viktoria's city rivals Koln. Crucially, Koln were unable to register new players at the time, so in order to get a deal done for the in-demand youngster as quickly as possible, they agreed to immediately loan El Mala back to Viktoria for the 2024-25 campaign.

It proved a pivotal moment in his development, as the winger benefited enormously from regular game time at a lower level. He scored 13 times in 32 appearances across his first full season in the professional ranks, resulting in him being awarded the 3. Liga's Newcomer of the Season award, and then shone for Germany's U19s during their summer run to the semi-finals of the European Championship, with four goals and three assists.

Consequently, El Mala belatedly arrived at Koln brimming with belief. 

Despite El Mala marking himself out as one of Germany's most promising prospects over the previous year, Koln coach Lukas Kwasniok was reluctant to place too much pressure upon the teenager's shoulders and decided to carefully manage his game time. Consequently, El Mala has been employed primarily as an impact sub in 2025-26 - but to devastating effect. The attacker has already racked up four goals and two assists in this season's Bundesliga, even though he's only started three times. 

Julian Nagelsmann also felt that he'd seen enough of El Mala to warrant inclusion in his squad for this week's crucial World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Slovakia.

"Said should get the chance to show his carefree and easy-going style of play," the Germany boss told reporters. "We keep an eye on our U21 players and always want to give them the chance to feature for the senior national team."

As for El Mala, he was taken aback by his rapid promotion to Germany's senior squad and revealed that he had initially ignored Nagelsmann's call.

"I was at home when it arrived but I don't like answering unknown numbers," the teenager revealed to Sky Germany. "Then, he sent me a message saying, 'Hi, this is Julian Nagelsmann, please call me back!' I immediately showed the message to my brother and that's when I realised, 'I guess I'm in!' But you can't take it all in during one week. It takes a bit longer. But I'm incredibly excited for the game [against Luxembourg on Friday], and I can enjoy whatever comes after that."

In Germany, El Mala is considered something of a throwback, the kind of old-school street-footballer that one rarely sees anymore.

He's a refreshingly direct dribbler. His first thought always seems to be to take on his man - which makes sense, as he's blessed with wonderful close control and a blistering turn of pace, meaning he's a nightmare for full-backs in one-v-one situations.

He's also got one hell of a strike on him. Time and time again this season, we've seen him come off the left flank and cut in onto his favoured right foot before unleashing fearsome shots on goal.

Luckily for El Mala, size is no longer an issue. During this time at Meerbusch, he had a massive growth spurt and now stands at 6'2". However, while he's no longer lacking physical strength, El Mala does still need to work on the defensive side of his game. Kwasniok even hauled him off at half-time in Koln's 3-1 loss at Gladbach just before the international break because he wasn't happy with his work off the ball.

"He simply didn't perform quite as well in certain challenges as we would have liked," the Pole explained. "I evaluate his performance like I do with all the other players, and it wasn't quite up to par in the first 45 minutes. That's why I substituted him."

Koln sporting director Thomas Kessler was quick to point out that such setbacks were "perfectly normal" for such an inexperienced player: "He's a young guy. We emphasise that week after week, even if people don't like to hear it. But El Mala is still developing."

As a left winger with an eye for goal who's made his breakthrough at Koln, El Mala has rather inevitably been compared with Lukas Podolski.  'Prince Poldi' has admitted that El Mala reminds him "a little bit" of himself and says that he's a huge fan of 'El Maladona', who has has quickly become a fan favourite at Koln as much for his "great character" as his fancy footwork.

"He just goes for it, and he gets things done," enthused Podolski, who scored 49 times for Germany and represented the likes of Bayern, Arsenal and Inter after starting out in Cologne. "He's on the move." And that could well be the case soon enough.

There's no guarantee that El Mala will make his international bow in the coming days, given Germany's bid to qualify for the World Cup is set to go right to the wire. Even if they win in Luxembourg on Friday, top spot in Group A will only be decided after Monday's meeting with second-placed Slovakia at the Red Bull Arena. However, El Mala has clearly got a chance of making the squad for next summer's World Cup, because Nagelsmann is certain that the Koln ace is destined to become a "top player".

It's a view shared by several suitors. Brighton actually tried to sign El Mala during the summer but their €20m (£18m/$23m) bid was rejected by Koln, who were convinced that his value was only going to rise this season and thus extended his contract - and that of his brother Malek - in July.

It was a brilliant bit of business on Koln's part because, according to the latest reports, Kessler & Co. now believe El Mala is worth at least three times the Brighton bid after playing such a thrilling role in the newly-promoted club making a surprisingly strong start to the season (Koln are currently ninth in the Bundesliga).

Even Kwasniok, who is trying to manage expectations around El Mala, is in no doubt that Koln's new hero will eventually leave for "an incredibly high fee".

"We are proud that the club signed him at the right moment," the manager said. "We know that he probably won't be playing here for the next 15 years - and that's okay. But I have the feeling that he currently holds FC Koln very dear to his heart, is enjoying this time here - and we are enjoying it too." As well they should.

Kwasniok may have been joking when he said that El Mala is adding an extra €5m to his asking price with each passing goal, but it's clear that when he does eventually leave Koln, it will be for a lot more money than they got for Wirtz!

Additional reporting by Christian Guinin