Two bids down. Both knocked back. And still Borussia Dortmund keep coming back for more.
Said El Mala is the name. The FC Köln winger is 19, and die Schwarzgelben have made him their summer obsession.
Reporting this week points to a third offer worth around €55m. That breaks down as roughly €50m up front, with €5m in bonuses. The player has agreed personal terms, per a fresh €55m bid report. Now he waits.
That fee would smash the club's transfer record. It would dwarf the €30m just spent on Konstantinos Karetsas. So the question is fair. Is a teenager with one big season behind him worth breaking the bank?
The case for smashing the record
Look at what he did last term. El Mala scored 13 goals and laid on five assists in 34 league games for Köln. For a winger of his age, that's quite a statement.
Dortmund's whole model runs on this bet. Buy young, develop, sell high, as BVB Buzz keeps noting in its coverage of the club's youth-first recruitment. Karim Adeyemi's move to Barcelona is the latest cash-in. That money is burning a hole.
He fits the system too. Niko Kovac wants pace and directness out wide, and El Mala carries the ball like few others in the division. Pair him with Karetsas behind Serhou Guirassy and the attack suddenly looks frightening.
Where the risk creeps in
Here's the catch. One brilliant season is a small sample, and €55m for it is steep.
Köln know Dortmund are keen, so they're squeezing every euro. Their two rejections have already dragged the fee up from the low €40 millions. Each bid costs more than the last.
Then there's the step up. El Mala has yet to play Champions League football. The jump from mid-table Köln to a title-chasing side is no small thing, and plenty of gifted teenagers have needed a year to settle. Southampton's Damion Downs is a prime example of what can go wrong.
BVB Buzz has framed the chase as a mega bid looming, backed by Lars Ricken and Nils-Ole Book. The hierarchy clearly believes. Kovac has reportedly phoned the player himself.
Would you gamble €55m on it? On the evidence, the upside is huge and the profile is spot on. The price is the only thing that stings.
Verdict: 5/5 - A fee worth paying for a talent this rare.
Likelihood: 4/5 - The third bid gets it over the line.
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