Said El Mala: The Rising Star of Köln and His Future with Klopp
On a damp evening in Cologne, as the home side were grinding their way to a 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen, the conversation in the stands and on the touchline kept circling back to one name: Said El Mala.
Lothar Matthäus, watching on as a Sky pundit, didn’t bother with understatement.
“He is definitely a player for Jürgen Klopp. He would also have been a player for Julian Nagelsmann,” the Germany legend declared, as El Mala sat, waited, and then finally entered the pitch for the final quarter of an hour.
The talent that slipped through Nagelsmann’s fingers
El Mala’s rise at Köln has been rapid enough to bend timelines. Nagelsmann brought him into the Germany set-up in November 2025, rewarding his explosive emergence at Effzeh. Yet the first senior cap still hasn’t arrived.
He was overlooked for the World Cup squad, a decision that raised eyebrows at the time. The surprise only deepened when Bayern Munich prodigy Lennart Karl, then just 18, suffered a serious injury in the build-up to the tournament. A vacancy opened. El Mala stayed at home. RB Leipzig’s Assan Ouedraogo, 20, got the call instead.
Matthäus has not forgiven that choice.
“Maybe he didn't take him because there would have been too much fuss around him,” he suggested, before turning that argument on its head. “But that's exactly what we need. A player like him with this pace uses his strengths. He has strengths that you need to be right at the top.”
For a Germany side searching for edge, that’s a pointed assessment.
A wild summer, a sharp start
The last transfer window only added to the sense that El Mala is a player on the brink of something bigger.
A move to FC Brentford was widely reported and just as quickly dismissed. Borussia Dortmund circled. Then came the twist: a contract extension in Cologne, a statement that he would not be rushed out of the Rhineland.
He responded on the pitch. On the opening matchday against Hoffenheim, El Mala was straight among the goals in a 2-1 win, his direct running and finishing underlining why so many clubs – and now national team coaches – have him ringed in red ink.
The momentum stalled briefly. Illness ruled him out of the 4-1 defeat at Stuttgart. A knock meant he had to start on the bench against Bremen, only entering late on as Köln chased energy and ideas.
They found some of it in him.
Coach Rene Wagner made it clear that the national team remains very much part of the plan.
“He has already been involved. There has not yet been any exchange,” Wagner said of El Mala’s DFB prospects. “Said now wants to perform in order to put himself forward. Unfortunately from the bench today, but we have great hope that he gives us plenty of energy.”
Teammate Linton Maina went for a more vivid image. With El Mala in reserve, he smiled, “a rocket is still coming off the bench.”
Köln sit 11th in the table with four points. They travel to Hamburger SV next weekend. Then the league pauses, and all eyes turn to Jürgen Klopp.
Klopp’s first squad and a winger made for his football
According to Sky, Klopp wants El Mala. Not at some distant point. Now.
The new national coach is said to see huge potential in the Köln forward and intends to trust him from the start of his tenure. That would be a bold opening statement.
Klopp had already signposted this direction at his unveiling at the end of July. He made it clear the door is wide open for newcomers and underlined just how important wide players will be in his Germany.
“Because every opponent can make the pitch very narrow. The only advantage you have is for a brief moment out wide. The playmakers of the modern era are out wide,” Klopp said.
On paper, El Mala fits that blueprint almost too neatly. Pace to burn. Relentless dribbling. A straight-line drive towards goal that rips through compact defences. His profile screams Klopp football. One question remains: can he meet the demands without the ball, in the chaos of Klopp’s counter-pressing?
That may decide whether he becomes a Nations League weapon or remains a tantalising “what if”.
Amsterdam, Augsburg, Munich – and an open door
Germany’s schedule under Klopp starts with a jolt. The Nations League opener in Amsterdam against the Netherlands on 24 September. Three days later, the first home game of the new era in Augsburg against Greece. Then Serbia in Munich on 1 October. Greece again in Thessaloniki on 4 October.
Four games. Four stages. Plenty of space for a new face to grab a spotlight.
On Thursday, Klopp names his first squad. The anticipation around El Mala is no longer just a Cologne story; it has become a national subplot.
Matthäus is convinced. Wagner is hopeful. Maina is excited. The DFB door is open wider than it has been in years for wide players with courage and speed.
Now the question hangs over the week: does Klopp turn all that noise into a first cap and hand Said El Mala the stage his game seems built for?
