Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are among the teams linked with a sensational young winger from Germany - but who will get there first?
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Manchester United may has splashed a considerable sum on new attacking players this summer, but few transfer reports seem to think that they have finished the process of upgrading their attack – and now a new story suggests that a sensational young talent from Germany is right at the top of their shopping list for 2026.
At the end of last season, Saïd El Mala was a virtual unknown playing in the third tier of the German league with Viktoria Köln. Now, just a few months after completing a move to Viktoria’s wealthier and more famous neighbours 1.FC Köln, the 19-year-old is attracting scouts from a host of elite sides, Manchester United among them. But just how good is El Mala, and is he worth a potential transfer fee of £35m, as suggested by Bild?
Why Manchester United could be chasing Saïd El Mala in 2026
El Mala has enjoyed an explosive start to his top-flight career, scoring six goals in 14 league games for Köln – only six of which have been starts – and earning his first call-ups to the German Under-21 side. It’s not just the number of goals he’s been scoring that has stood out, however, but the nature of them.
Take his goal just two weeks ago against St. Pauli, when he took control of a clearance and surged past a defender from within his own half, held him off all the way into the opposing area and slotted coolly past the goalkeeper. Or his brilliant strike against Augsburg in October, when he slalomed inside the full-back and blasted a brilliant strike into the far corner.
El Mala isn’t simply scoring goals, but brilliant ones, and isn’t simply beating defenders but taking them to pieces. Blessed with both raw pace and a more powerful physique than most wingers – at 6’2” he is much larger than many inside forwards – and matching that with instinctive touch and a lethal eye for a finish, he has all the natural attributes of a first-rate forward and then some change left over.
He doesn’t have a complete all-round game – his passing leaves something to be desired, perhaps, and he rarely looks for a team-mate when a chance to shoot or beat his man presents himself, a trait which might frustrate some coaches, but his movement and skill on the ball seems to make up for that in spades.
Given the right coaching and time to hone his decision-making skills, El Mala seems to have the right skillset to become a world-class player, and he’s certainly made a remarkable impression very quickly in the Bundesliga. It’s scarcely a surprise that top teams are taking a look at him. But just how likely is it that United win the race to sign El Mala – with Spurs also said to be in the mix?
Will United sign El Mala – or will Spurs get there first?
Bild’s report on the interest in El Mala, published earlier this week, put Manchester United’s name in the frame alongside three other elite teams: Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich and PSG. It’s a familiar list of suitors.
The expected price range for El Mala is said to be €30-40m (£26-35m), a broad range but not one that seems at all excessive given what we’ve seen from El Mala so far. Both United and Spurs are said to have made initial enquiries, although there is no discussion as to whether any offers are likely to come in January or next summer.
The latter may be more likely, if only because Köln are unlikely to wish to sell a player like El Mala in mid-season. Given that they have him under contract until 2030, they certainly hold all the cards. They will only sell over the winter if the offer is excessive.
United are not likely to be in a position to make an offer over asking price this January. They have some limited transfer funds remaining but are believed to only be prepared to make a significant investment in a player if they are able to secure an appropriate fee for an unwanted player like Joshua Zirkzee. There are hurdles that they would have to jump through.
Spurs, on the other hand, have an enormous amount of headroom under the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules and could make such a move – and may well do so given that they know that waiting until summer to secure a better price would leave them behind bigger teams in the race for El Mala’s signature. In the short term, at least, they could be the biggest threat to United simply due to their position in the transfer market.
Beyond the immediate future, it’s too early to say where El Mala will end up – but it’s easy to see why he’s attracting United’s attention. He’s direct, dangerous, and blessed with plenty of talent. A big move awaits at some stage.