Is Malik Tillman the USMNT dual-nat mystery man?
A scouting report of Malik Tillman 19 year old Bayern Munich attacker
The US has two friendlies coming up quickly in June where they will face Morocco and Uruguay before starting their Nations League group stage games vs Grenada. In a recent interview Gregg Berhalter hinted he would be bringing a dual nat without senior level international experience. It’s been heavily hinted that that dual national will be Malik Tillman.
So today we’re going to learn more about the 19 year old phenom at Bayern Munich who already has goals to his name in the DFB Pokal and has been trusted as a substitute against Barcelona in the Champions League.
Malik Tillman was born in Germany to a German mother and American military father. He is the younger brother of Timothy Tillman who you may have heard of as a key piece for relegation candidates Greuther Fürth this year. That’s actually where this story starts. Malik and Timothy both grew up in Greuther Fürth’s academy system and both of them went to Bayern Munich as teenagers. While Timothy’s time didn’t work out as well as he’d want and was eventually sold back to Greuther Fürth - Malik has had a rapid rise to success with the German giants. He has represented the US at U15 levels but Germany at all other youth levels including in official UEFA competitions for the U23s. It looks like if he wants to play for the US he’ll need to file a one time switch even with the new rules.
At 19 years old he is currently a key piece in Bayern Munich II team playing mostly as an advanced midfielder. He’s had a substitute appearances for the first team this year notably scoring a goal in Bayern’s 12-0 demolition in the DFB Pokal of Bremer SV, and a cameo in Bayern’s 3-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League last year.
Reports are that if Malik accepts this call up he will be played as a number 9 and one of the reasons he would be switching national teams is that he would have a realistic (albeit not great) chance of making the World Cup squad due to the US’s lack of strikers performing at the top level.
While Tillman has played the 9 in the past and can do so at a youth level - he’s mostly been seen as an attacking midfielder over the last two years. He’ll inevitably draw connections to Jesus Ferreira as he is a player that is excellent in the buildup and identifies space with a high soccer IQ, all with a deadly right foot. However, when he’s played up to the senior level in the Bundesliga or champions league it’s apparent the speed and physicality is just a bit too much at the moment but he’s not far off. I think he could play on a senior team right now but not consistently at the level of Bayern right now - he’s probably 2-3 years off.
Let’s look at some of his strengths in-front of goal and then see how that is translating at the senior level.
He is elite in the build-up and combines powerful runs forward with smart passing and use of his body.
He understands how to make space for himself in the box and hold off defenders to allow him a shot
His first touch and acceleration speed are excellent against Liga 3 quality players but hasn’t translated that for the first team.
Watch my full scouting report on Youtube: