One of the biggest recent transfer sagas in German football came to an end on Friday, as Borussia Dortmund’s move for 1. FC Köln winger Said El Mala broke down.
Amid reports linking El Mala with Dortmund, it was claimed that Germany head coach Jürgen Klopp had recommended the 19-year-old to make the switch to Signal Iduna Park.
However, the 59-year-old has now strongly denied that he was trying to push El Mala towards a move to the club he spent seven years coaching.
“It offended me a little that people think I’m so stupid that, in my first official act, I would call a player and tell him: ‘BVB would be a good fit for you.’ Of course I didn’t do that. That’s not my job,” Klopp told DFB.TV.
“If I work with a player for a longer period in the future and he then comes to me for advice, I would give him some. But it wouldn’t be influenced by whether I had previously worked at the club or not.
“It’s always about the player. Said El Mala is certainly a nice guy, but of course we haven’t spoken about it,” Klopp underlined.