And just like that, the Said El Mala transfer saga draws to a close. Rather disappintingly, for the BVB fans.
Borussia Dortmund ended their pursuit of the highly rated young gun on Friday after seeing a fourth bid rejected by FC Koln.
The Bundesliga giants had tabled a club record bid of 50 million euros in addition to a few add-ons too that would have made El Mala the most expensive purchase in Dortmund's history.
But reports on Friday revealed that Niko Kovac's side have cooled off their interest and the move won't come to pass, at least this summer.
However, this isn't the first time that Dortmund have missed out on signing a player after being heavily linked to him. Here are five other instances where a transfer didn't happen eventually:
5) Claudio Echeverri
With many of their forwards leaving the club, Borussia Dortmund were in the hunt for attacking reinforcements last year and among the players linked was Claudio Echeverri. The BVB had even submitted a proposal for a season-long loan with an option-to-buy him permanently the following year, but Manchester City weren't keen to sell him off.
This appeared to put off Dortmund as Bayer Leverkusen then swooped in and priced him away on a straight, one-year loan agreement without any option of a permanent signing to follow it.
4) Paul Sergio
This is quite an old one but perfectly fits the bill here. Dortmund wanted to buy the former Bayer Leverkusen star in 1999 when he was at AS Roma, but Paul Sergio chose Bayern Munich instead and the Brazilian went on to win seven trophies during a three-year spell, including 1999-00 and 2000-01 Bundesliga titles as well as the 2000-01 UEFA Champions League title.
3) Facundo Buonanotte
The 2025 summer transfer window was one to forget for Borussia Dortmund, who saw many of their transfer targets slip through their fingers, including Facundo Buonanotte. A Brighton player at the time, the BVB wanted to sign him on loan as a temporary attacking reinforcement with a purchase option, but the Seagulls had a high valuation for the Argentine (€45 million for a permanent move) and preferred loaning him to a Premier League club instead. As it turned out, Buonanotte was lost to Chelsea instead, although limited gametime prompted another loan spell with Leeds United, six months later.
2) Rayan Cherki
Another player that Borussia Dortmund pursued across multiple transfer window was Rayan Cherki. The Frenchman was courted for a loan transfer from Lyon in 2024 as he'd even agreed personal terms with the club. But, as with Buonanotte's case, an exorbitant asking price from his parent club saw the move stalled. The BVB came back for him the following year abd submitted a bid worth €22.5 million on deadline day, but Lyon rejected it as they lacked the time to find a replacement.
1) Kevin De Bruyne
Ah, this one could hurt the Dortmund faithful. Kevin De Bruyne, a modern-day creative wizard, had almost signed for them during the Jurgen Klopp years until then-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho blocked the move as revenge for not selling Robert Lewandowski to the Blues. The Belgian had in fact struck a personal agreement with Klopp, but Mourinho's intervention prevented a transfer from happening and he stayed at Chelsea for some more time before joining Dortmund's league rivals VfL Wolfsburg in January 2014.
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