Malik Tillman: An apology - why I failed to board his Rangers Express

I do indeed remember John Lundstram's reaction to that Malik Tillman question, not least because it was me who asked the question. I'd posed it to the Scouser having been blown away by the American that day as he helped pull Aberdeen apart in what was the best performance of the season under Giovanni van Bronckhorst. The wheels would soon come off - but on that day, all was right in Govan despite a gloom-filled start to the campaign.

It was clear from his first few appearances that Tillman was a supreme talent. Even after watching limited minutes, you could see he was endowed with that rare mix of deft skill and physical prowess that we rarely find coming through Scottish academies but screams 'potential Premier League player'. Nathan Patterson had it, there have been seldom few others.

And yet for all his skills, I was also unconvinced by key aspects of his game. In the Champions League he looked a liability in the right-sided role favoured by Van Bronckhorst. Slow to react to danger, he would often start motoring towards the problem two or three seconds late. It looked to this observer like a lad who, at times, didn't want to dirty his hands with the less enjoyable elements of the game.

So I have to hold up my hands and admit, I was not readily appreciative. My colleague Josh Barrie has championed the youngster from day one, urging patience with precocious talent and would often chide me on our daily morning briefing video-cast about it being time to 'get aboard the Tillman train'.

Aberdeen was the day I finally skipped aboard. Sitting in the press box, it just seemed undeniable. This is a player, for whatever faults he might have, who brings far more to the table than he takes from it. 

So, hands in the air, I accept my misgivings were in grave error. Lundstram was and is right, it's easy to recognise the bigger picture in hindsight. 

Watching on from the Director's Box that very same day, you can be certain Michael Beale was watching this maverick closely. Little did he then know that within a matter of weeks he'd be the man moulding and shaping the Bayern loanee into Rangers' most deadly attacking weapon. For that's exactly what this 20-year-old, with just four top team appearances prior to arriving at Ibrox, has become.

In the Premiership, he's made 25 appearances, scoring 10 goals and registering five assists - pretty good, but drill into the detail and the garden looks even rosier. Tillman's output has accelerated significantly since Beale took the reins with seven goals and two assists in 12 appearances. And that's made even better given he's only actually played 845 minutes, meaning he's registering a goal contribution every 93 minutes. That's impressive for a striker, never mind a midfielder. And if you assess his performance radar from our statistics and data partners StatsBomb, you can see his numbers are crushing the SPFL average for a player in his role.

Malik Tillman vs Average Premiership Attacking Midfielder (Image: StatsBomb)

So he's blowing the doors off for a youngster arriving in this country on loan. Of that, there can't be any doubt.

His deal will come to an end in the summer with the option to make the transfer permanent for a little under £6m. Of course, that's a bargain on the face of it in the context of the modern game and many will look at such a deal and marvel at the potential to move Tillman down south in a couple of years for five times that. But alas, Bayern Munich didn't become one of the elite clubs in world football on the back of ill-considered business deals. 

Should they decide to allow their player to depart, and new manager Thomas Tuchel may yet feel he wants a closer look, then there will be a copper-bottomed return sell-on fee that would see Rangers scoop only a fraction of the player's true market value. A source explained at the time of the initial deal that Rangers were signing a player of a standard that could not normally be enticed to Scotland and the complex deal struck reflects that reality. 

READ MORE: Neil Banfield interview: Rangers, Arsenal, Beale and Wenger

In short, it was an agreement not designed to enrich the club in the future like a Calvin Bassey, but to bring in a level of quality normally unattainable to a Scottish Premiership side in the here and now. Tillman has lived up to that billing and you have to say, looks like he will only get better. 

Joe Aribo was another persuaded to sign on the dotted line via a multi-layered deal that didn't eventually pay out what it might have. But he left a goalscoring European finalist, Scottish Cup and title winner.

If Tillman can follow a similar route, his great supporter Lundstram can bathe in the comfort of knowing he called it spot-on and long before most others clambered aboard the now motoring Malik Express.