While the €35m fee dominates headlines, Koln manager Lukas Kwasniok remains focused on his prospect's footballing education. The attacker has enjoyed a productive campaign, netting 10 goals despite often featuring as an impact substitute. Kwasniok stressed the absolute importance of patience, explaining: "In the end, it's always about the player, how we can integrate Said El Mala into the overall structure and at the same time simply encourage and challenge him, because he is quite simply a great talent. I think we've done a decent job of that in the past. This is what I see on the training pitch: that the boy is totally willing to improve in many, many elements. It would be fatal if he didn't want to, because at 19 you are logically not perfect."