When Rangers sold Joe Aribo, attention turned immediately as to who might replace the Nigerian international – and how much we would spend to bring them in.
When Malik Tillman arrived from Bayern Munich on loan, there weren’t many in the Light Blues support who could profess to know anything about him – a quick look on Transfermarkt saw a player who had limited experience, despite his international status for the USA, but one that was obviously highly regarded.
A report in The Athletic has revealed just how highly regarded he remains in Munich with details of his loan-to-buy move:
“Rangers’ year-long agreement includes an exclusive option to sign the now 20-year-old permanently at an agreed fee, but The Athletic is informed Bayern retain a buy-back option on top of that, which would allow them to re-sign the two-cap USA midfielder at a higher price than they sell him for.”
The issue with this sort of story is that it can – and will – cause arguments despite nobody having any details.
It’s pretty standard practice for a club to insert a buy-back clause when a talented youngster leaves, we even had one when Zak Rudden left the club, however, given the players Bayern currently have available and their budget, it would be a surprise if they put themselves out of pocket just so that nobody else signs one of their own.
Tillman has enjoyed a great start to his Rangers career and looks as though he is only going to get better and more influential, the guaranteed Champions League riches seeing fans call for our option-to-buy to be taken up already, and who can blame them, there’s shades of a young Zinedine Zidane about his play – it’s time to get the chequebook out Mr Wilson.