The transfer window may have shut but, Rangers performance against Hearts was enough for Michael Beale to have to field questions about a potential summer move, and one that shouldn’t take months of negotiations either.
The front three grabbed the headlines, however, Malik Tillman put in another display that shows he is learning and getting better with every appearance. Not only did he take his goal well but he linked play and could easily have had a couple of assists himself.
Getting the Bayern Munich midfielder in on a loan-to-buy deal has been a shrewd bit of business by Ross Wilson and, with six goals and four assists in 22 league games, he is already well on track to surpass Joe Aribo’s numbers – even if Beale isn’t happy with direct comparisons.
Speaking after the game, as reported by The Herald, Beale revealed that it is pretty much just a case of dotting “i’s” and crossing “t’s” if Rangers want to make Tillman’s move permanent and, on this form, you’d have to think that they would be mad not to.
“Yeah. Of course, we can. There’s a fee agreed. Everything is in place. You get the season out of the way then you sit down and talk to everybody and try and get it done.
“If it was on my decision and Rangers’ decision we would have him here for the long term. He’s a player that we like and a boy that’s settled in really well at our club. At 20 years old he’s got a really exciting future.
On whether or not Tillman himself can intervene, he said:
“Not so much. I think it’s up to the two clubs.”
The fee, said to be between £5-6million, for a 20-year old, is a lot of money but we have seen since he joined how much he has improved already in and out of possession. Given his development at Bayern and his status as a USA international, at such a young age, on a long-term contract, this would be money well spent.
There have been reports before that if we want to sign Tillman and James Sands that the money is already ring-fenced which means that it wouldn’t come out of next summer’s transfer kitty. It really is the no brainer of no brainer signings.