There is a very very heavy rumour now doing the rounds that Rangers are in heavy negotiations with Bayern Munich over Malik Tillman for a fee of £5.2M.
Some even think this is going to be announced as a confirmed deal tomorrow night, with Michael Beale hinting at some news revealed v Hearts at Ibrox.
So what do we think?
No. Is the answer. Ibrox Noise is not in favour of us potentially spending half of our entire summer budget on one kid who couldn’t show up in the big matches.
Rangers do not need lads who can score against Dundee Utd, we need big players who are big enough to deliver at Pittodrie and Celtic Park.
Of what we have seen of Tillman, he lacks aggression, desire, pace, and attitude, and he’s certainly rather lazy – he appears to be a personal favourite of Michael Beale and he will get a big say in whether the USA international remains.
But the kid is divisive among supporters – half absolutely want the boy to remain in Govan, and think that in 2 or 3 years he’s a £20M player. Because, of course, we’re great at selling players for that kind of money…
While the other group see his negative aspects and think he’s not cut out, and not at that price.
The big comparison made is Joe Aribo – fans point to the stats and argue Tillman, at 3 years Aribo’s junior, offers more assists and goals than the Nigerian did in the Rangers shirt.
They’re not wrong – Joe fell short in those areas for the club, but then given Ibrox Noise actually opposed his signing in the first place based on Greg Docherty at Shrewsbury on loan ALSO matching Aribo’s then-Charlton stats (both in League One), that’s not really a shock.
Aribo has never been a big scorer or assister.
But that said, Aribo, for now, is history, and there’s no point boasting on Tillman’s stats just because they’re better than Aribo’s and he’s younger.
We need to judge Tillman on now, on what he’d bring, and whether we need him in his position – given we have, for now, Hagi, Cantwell, Lowry and sort of Tom Lawrence if he ever gets fit, it’s not like the 10 slot is lacking for depth.
Tillman would be a luxury, one that’s just not a priority for us at Ibrox Noise.
But you may think differently.
So we’ll hand it over to you:
To be honest, I don’t think we have enough data for a decision yet. I understand that Bayern have a buy back in the contract. So even if he comes and in 2 years is worth £20, £30 or £40 million, it doesn’t mean that we would get that. So I would want to know the detail
On football ability, I would not fail a 20yr old for not running a game against them when so many others have also failed – we would have nobody left! His numbers are fantastic for a 20yr old playing his 1st season in senior football, way better than Aribo and I, like you, wanted Docherty instead based on those numbers.
BUT, as you note, we already have Hagi, Cantwell, Lowry and Lawrence for that position.
So, unless we sell Hagi for over the cost of Tillman, or we have a much bigger budget than we all think, I would sadly decline a buy.
It is a calculation over the size of our budget, whether Hagi moves on and the price and sell-on that Bayern want. Don’t see the point in another loan again unless Hagi goes. Time for Lowry, who is almost exactly 12 months younger to show whether he can have the same impact.
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