German club 'hope' Chelsea are willing to pay €50m for winger who Brighton tried to sign

Said El Mala is a target for Chelsea, and his asking price has been set at €43m according to one insider’s report on him.

When things are this bleak at your club, and the problems are so systemic, it’s hard to get excited about transfers. We’ve seen so many players come and go in recent years, and none have made a difference.

And yet… there’s not much else to get excited about, and it’s nice to have a distraction. The idea of not having to watch Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens every week is pretty tempting too.

El Mala a Chelsea target with reasonable asking price

So you’ll forgive us about getting interested in the whispers around Said El Mala. The winger has been reported as a Chelsea target for a while, and today’s update from insider Christian Falk makes him all the more tempting.

“Is there a club out there prepared to pay €50m?” Falk asked.

“The hope is that’s Chelsea. They are interested in the player, but if they’ll pay so much for a German talent remains to be seen – we don’t yet know! In the meantime, FC Köln would be happy to keep the 19-year-old winger.”

Thierry Henry has called for Chelsea to be patient with their managers – but which have actually deserved patience?

Jamie Carragher has become the latest pundit to turn the blame on Chelsea’s sporting directors as the Blues collapse continues.