Star who left Rangers in 2023 scouted by Juventus as European giant eye man who slipped through Ibrox fingers
He eventually didn’t make his Rangers move permanent.
A former Rangers star is being eyed by European heavyweights Juventus, it’s claimed.
Malik Tillman spent the 2022/23 season on loan at Ibrox from Bayern Munich and impressed, winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award. He’s now with PSV in Holland and his form there appears to have attracted attention.
On duty currently with the USA this international break, ESPN claim Juventus were watching him in their game against Canada. Jonathan David was being watched as was Tillman’s American teammate Ricardo Pepi during a 2-1 win for Canada.
It’s claimed “Juve also like his teammate Tillman”, with the playmaker playing 62 minutes during the clash in Kansas City. Tillman was a top performer for PSV last season during a campaign-long loan spell as he contributed with nine goals and 15 assists.
That form has won him a full-time switch on a deal until 2028 but it could have been Rangers who had him in permanently. At the end of his loan last year, Rangers did have a £5m ($6m) purchase option that came with the initial temporary agreement, but never got to trigger it.
In an unusual twist, it was because Bayern figures out that they could make more money on their asset elsewhere, proceeding to tear up their deal with Rangers and putting together a deal that potentially could be worth £13m ($16m). Bayern paid the Premiership side £1million and promised 10% of any future sale.
Ibrox boss at the time Giovanni van Bronckhorst said: “I watched a lot of videos of him before he came to us; a good player and a great talent. (Tillman) did a great job for us last year. He gave an assist against PSV and scored important goals against Union Saint-Gilloise (in the Champions League play-offs).
“He’s strong on the ball and also with his work ethic. He also reads the game and he has good dribbling ability. I do think Rangers wanted to buy him, but Bayern Munich bought off the option to buy that Rangers had. That’s why he is now at PSV.”