Where’s Malik? All quiet over £5m Ibrox no-brainer

While Micky Beale indulges on a spending spree with multiple free agents signing up for the Revolution one of last season’s stars appears to have been forgotten.

After a couple of games, but before his visit to Celtic in September, the on-loan Bayern Munich midfielder was getting the full Morelos Bingo treatment with figures of £30m and upwards being mentioned for his next transfer fee.

Against Celtic Tillman put in the sort of performance that ended the Ibrox hopes of Amad Diallo, followed by a key role for the Champions League record breakers.

Malik Tillman working on his recovery at Säbener Straße while his future is yet to be decided [? @itstheicebird]pic.twitter.com/YJESEoPwGh

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) June 2, 2023

Michael Beale tells Rangers buying Malik Tillman is ‘no brainer’ but admits ideas must align to keep Kent and Moreloshttps://t.co/pfRnWGvdJI pic.twitter.com/RWXMCWwIpk

— Daily Record Sport (@Record_Sport) February 4, 2023

All it took was a couple of home goals against Motherwell and Ross County to restore the midfielder’s superstar status, boosted by the outstanding coaching sessions put on by new manager Micky Beale.

Explaining their outstanding relationship on all levels, on May 5 Sky Sports reported the rookie Ibrox boss saying:

Me and Malik are in a great place on a personal level. He’s been brilliant for the club and I think brilliant for me in my time here. He’s a player I think has a really high ceiling – as high as anyone I’ve worked with in my time here at Rangers.

There’s areas of his game that at 20 years old he certainly has to brush up on but that’s why he’s come on loan.

We said we’d park the conversation until the middle of May because there’s a lot around it. We want to get to end of the season.

And Malik has got a say in this as well. Obviously the two clubs have been talking back and forth and there’s agreements between them.

But the most important person is Malik. If Malik wants to be here in Glasgow, then it’s something we can make happen. Likewise if he’s unsure…

We’d said we’d park the conversation until the middle of May and nothing has changed on that.

Now, in the middle of June it seems that Tillman won’t be joining Todd Cantwell, Nico Raskin, Ianis Hagi, Glen Kamara, John Lundstram, Ryan Jack, Kieran Dowell,Tom Lawrence and Ianis Hagi in next season’s star studded midfield.

Ross Wilson was reported to have signed an exclusive deal to convert Tillman’s loan into a permanent move, with no other club interested it looks like the £5m transfer fee could be the deal breaker.