Malik Tillman and why Bayer Leverkusen have signed the USMNT midfielder

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Malik Tillman used to be so shy that he sometimes struggled to make eye contact with people when he arrived at PSV in August 2023.

He had just been toughened up by an impressive 12-goal season on loan with leading Scottish side Rangers from German giants Bayern Munich, but the then 21-year-old could still be quiet, boyish and tongue-tied with journalists when he was farmed out again that summer to the Dutch club.

Words still did not flow easily for the attacking midfielder when asked by The Athletic to describe himself in an interview early the following year. After a long pause, he simply replied: “Chilled.”

Tillman is laid-back off the field, but as he completes a €35million (£30m/$41m) move to 2024-25 Bundesliga runners-up Bayer Leverkusen, the USMNT star has come of age.

A player once dropped for a game at PSV after sleeping in and missing a team meeting has made the football world wake up to his potential.

Over the past 12 months, Tillman became one of back-to-back Dutch champions PSV’s most important players, then forced himself into pole position for his country’s No 10 slot a year out from the World Cup after seizing the chance afforded by senior withdrawals from the Concacaf Gold Cup on home soil to impress coach Mauricio Pochettino.

Following his brace in the opening group game, a 5-0 win against Trinidad & Tobago on June 15, Pochettino called him “one of the most talented players that we have in the USA”.

Tillman, who got 16 club goals and four assists for PSV last season, later provided the pass for Diego Luna to score the important second goal as the USMNT beat Guatemala on July 2 to secure a place in the final.

It was his second assist to go with three goals in the tournament, and before that semifinal, his Gold Cup performances had already prompted ex-USMNT international Stuart Holden to post on social media: “Malik Tillman leads the U.S. in goals (3), tackles (16), interceptions (7) and recoveries (27) at the tournament, and he has 6 chances created, tied for third most on the team.

“The guy is involved in EVERYTHING.”

Tillman impressed against Guatemala in the Gold Cup semis (Tim Warner/USSF/Getty Images)

Leverkusen have long been convinced.

They identified the German-born 23-year-old to lead their rebuild under Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman has replaced Xabi Alonso as head coach after the Spaniard’s departure this summer for the Real Madrid job, which was followed by the loss of three key players. Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool and Jonathan Tah moved to Bayern Munich.

It is not the case that Tillman is intended as a like-for-like replacement for Wirtz, who went to Anfield for £100million ($135.9m) in guaranteed fees, with a potential £16m more in add-ons. Instead, he is intended to add goals and creativity to a new team being built by former Ajax and Manchester United manager Ten Hag.

Leverkusen went to great lengths to wrap up Tillman’s deal after he played in the 2-1 Gold Cup final loss to Mexico on Sunday.

For him to go straight on vacation following his extended season, a delegation from the German club flew to the United States to complete his medical before he signed a contract. He will be allowed to miss Leverkusen’s training camp next week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and will instead link up with his new team-mates at the end of the month.

Acclimatising to his new surroundings should not be too challenging, given Tillman has already played in the Bundesliga for Bayern, having come through their youth academy. There will be no language barrier for a player born in Nuremberg to a German mother while his father served in the U.S. military over there.

For PSV, still basking in the glow of retaining their Eredivisie title, Tillman’s departure had not been part of the plan.

Head coach Peter Bosz and technical director Earnie Stewart, the Dutch-American who was previously one of the most influential figures at U.S. Soccer, hoped signing Tillman on a four-year contract last summer would have at least kept him at the Eindhoven-based club for another year.

PSV are already looking light in this window, with 26-year-old forward Noa Lang on the brink of joining Italy’s Napoli, and experienced defender Olivier Boscagli signing for Brighton & Hove Albion of the Premier League. Add to that the increasing likelihood that their out-of-contract captain and top scorer, Luuk de Jon,g will head for pastures new at age 34, as too might in-demand 22-year-old winger Johan Bakayoko, and PSV were loath to lose another player coming into his golden years.

Tillman played an integral part in PSV’s thrilling title win, after they overcame a nine-point gap between them and Ajax to enjoy a late surge as the Amsterdam club’s form collapsed. He suffered an ankle ligament injury in January, which caused him to miss eight league games, and during that period, PSV suffered their worst form of the season, winning only three of those matches, drawing three and losing two.

Tillman was central to PSV’s title win (Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)

But when he returned to full fitness following surgery in Qatar and a spell rehabilitating in Munich, they won their remaining seven matches, with Tillman scoring five goals, including one on the dramatic final day when PSV had to beat Sparta Rotterdam. The American settled any jitters with the third goal of a 3-1 victory, which meant that although Ajax also won their game, PSV retained the title by a point.

“He will be a big loss for PSV,” says Jeroen Kapteijns, who reports on the club for Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. “Malik came back much faster than expected from his ankle injury, and it was no coincidence their results started to improve when he did.

“Malik can reach a very good level. He is a chameleon, with qualities to suit several positions, but he is all the things you want from an attacking midfielder: dynamic, creative, he makes runs and carries the ball, and he scores a good range of goals.”

Last season, as his confidence blossomed, Tillman added another string to his bow: goals from distance. According to Opta, his six goals from outside the box were more than any other player scored in the top 10 European domestic leagues.

At one stage, it was believed that Leverkusen were not the only top German side interested in him. Bayern had a buy-back option inserted into the transfer when he joined PSV permanently last summer. Had the serial Bundesliga champions decided to trigger the option, he would have returned to the Allianz Arena, but they decided against it.

Tillman only made four senior appearances for Bayern, in 2021-22, after he originally joined their youth ranks from his first German club, Greuther Furth, in 2015.

With Jamal Musiala after winning the 2022 Bundesliga title (S. Mellar/FC Bayern via Getty Images)

But it was at Rangers where he first played a concerted stretch of senior games and began to hint at his potential.

Tillman made 43 appearances for them in 2022-23, getting 12 goals and five assists, including scoring in a Champions League qualifying-rounds win against PSV that sent the Scots through to the group stage at his future employers’ expense. Though he proved one of Rangers’ standout performers that season, Tillman was still developing his strength and stamina and looked less at ease in the four Champions League games he started, as the Glasgow side endured a wretched winless group stage.

“I don’t know what minute it was (in his first Rangers game, against Livingston), but I got tackled like never in my life before and since,” Tillman told The Athletic last month. “And (thought), ‘Yeah, OK, this is a tough league’.”

The loanee learned quickly and started to develop the defensive side of his game, which would enable Bosz to play him as a No 6 for PSV.

Even if he was still a work in progress two years ago, Rangers were keen to keep him after that season ended. “He’s been brilliant for the club,” Rangers’ manager at the time Michael Beale told UK broadcaster Sky Sports. “He’s a player I think has a really high ceiling.”

His progress since has been rapid, but Tillman is his own fiercest critic and before this summer, he felt he had not yet translated his domestic form to the USMNT. Like his then club and country team-mate Ricardo Pepi, he was disappointed to not make the roster for the 2022 World Cup finals.

“I’ve been struggling a lot for the U.S. team, so for me, it’s about showing the real me,” Tillman said before the Gold Cup. “Showing the people here what I can do. Because I know I have a lot of qualities and I know I’m a good player, but I haven’t shown it for this team yet.”

Once he reports for pre-season training at Leverkusen following his break, Tillman is unlikely to need long to bed in.

“He is a really humble, football-loving guy who just wants to be on the pitch, playing,” says Kapteijns. “Malik was loved by his team-mates and coaches at PSV.

“When he first came in, he was shy. He is not an outgoing person, and in his first interviews he was studying his shoes and wasn’t giving anyone much eye contact but, over the two seasons, he has really developed — obviously as a brilliant player, and as a person too.

“He shows his personality much more.”

Once a shy boy, Tillman is ready to look the footballing world square in the eyes.

(Top photo: John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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