Sporting director Thomas Kessler has shown no interest in offers built around staggered bonus structures rather than guaranteed cash.
Cologne will only be swayed by a fee in the region of €50m, a figure that has stood as the club's benchmark for weeks, even as Borussia Dortmund's approach of edging toward that number gradually is, in itself, a reasonable negotiating tactic.
Landing El Mala remains a firm priority for the club this summer. Dortmund's hierarchy see the pacy right-footed winger as a potential difference-maker, even while acknowledging he still has plenty to learn defensively — unsurprising given he never came through a conventional Bundesliga academy setup.
The 19-year-old only signed for Köln in 2024 for a modest fee reported at around €500,000 including a payment for his older brother Malek, and has since become one of the club's most important attacking players and a full Germany youth international.
Dortmund's interest in a different winger, meanwhile, appears to be fading. A move for the free-agent Jadon Sancho, 26, was reportedly never concretely planned in the first place, and has grown less likely still, according to the Ruhr Nachrichten.
Sources at the Strobelallee are said to no longer view former Manchester United winger Sancho as capable of recapturing the difference-making form he showed during his first spell at the club.
The move shouldn't be written off entirely, however: with no transfer fee involved and Sancho potentially willing to accept a significant cut to the wages he earned in England, he could yet become close to a bargain, and he remains eligible to sign with a new club until the end of January — meaning Dortmund, or Sancho himself, may simply need patience before any deal comes together.