brighton and hove albion Saeed El Mala has been under pressure for almost a month to start formal negotiations, but 1. FC Köln are determined.
Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Report Today on the 19-year-old forward, including comments from sporting director Thomas Kessler, who is becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation.
Brighton is pushing, Köln is resisting
According to the newspaper Brighton, efforts have been made to arrange a negotiating meeting in Cologne 'for weeks', under the leadership of Fabian Herzeler.
His interest is said to be constantSaeed has been targeting El Mala since last summer. But Colon is 'consistently blocking' efforts to move the discussions forward.
The reason is twofold. The German side want a much higher fee than what Brighton have shown willingness to pay. His demand is reportedly €50m, while Brighton's cap limit is €35m.
Koln also wants to focus solely on their fight to avoid relegation from the Bundesliga. They are currently six points off the bottom two after 28 games.
Kessler: "We don't have any serious proposals"
Koln has been away from Brighton since last summer. This includes Seagulls owner Tony Blom being reprimanded by FC Köln supervisory board head Lionel Souk.
He told Bloom, "I'm a fruit and vegetable salesman, you're obviously a poker player. This conversation won't work between us."
Now sports director Thomas Kessler also wants to put an end to the rumours. He insisted that the club had not yet received any serious bid for their star player.
"We maintain a very trusting and close relationship with Said and his family," he said.
"At the moment, we have not received any offers from other clubs that we need to seriously consider. The player has also not expressed any desire to engage in discussions with other clubs."
"Said has made it abundantly clear that his entire focus is currently on FC Köln and their development over the season."
Kessler also dismissed the idea of setting a price: "No, we have not set a price."
brighton risk looking desperate
For Brighton, the situation is now looking even more bleak. Four weeks of unanswered tries paint a picture of a club perhaps pushing harder than the situation requires.
The Colons are definitely not bowing out. In fact, they seem to enjoy being able to say no. Each rejection, at this point, only serves to strengthen their leverage.
Brighton's persistence suggests El Mala is their top target this summer and talk of a €35m cap hit only seems unsubstantiated given the efforts being made to bring negotiations to fruition.
If anything, it all feels a little depressing, which is not a position Bloom and Brighton typically take.
