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Malik Tillman was born and in Germany, to an American dad and German mom. In his recent interview with Bundesliga.com, he compares his style of play to Paul Pogba’s. If he lives up to his own comparison with the Frenchman, the USA and Germany will have a fierce battle for the youngster.
Tillman joined Bayern Munich at the age of 13 and has enjoyed a successful spell in Munich. He’s really shined this season for U19’s, scoring 13 times in 21 appearances. It’s quite an achievement considering that Malik is actually playing out of position.
I prefer to play as a number eight or number 10, rather than as the central striker. I can score goals from midfield, and I can exploit my creativity with more space in front of me. When I play as a no.8 or no.10, my playing style is similar to Paul Pogba’s. I like him a lot. I really like how he plays. He’s something of a role model for me.
His form is not going unnoticed, he was praised by the coach — Jochen Sauer, who assures us that the youngster is worth the hype.
Malik’s one of the younger lads in the U19s, but he’s a beast physically. He has a very, very good technique. He’s difficult to nudge off the ball. He will get even better if he becomes more dynamic. It helps him to play as a striker sometimes. He’s got a very good tally for goals and assists.
He’s been so good for Bayern, that his goal tally of 28 goals across various academy teams is already 13 more than what his brother Timothy Tillman scored before he got promoted to Bayern II and spent a year on loan at Nurnberg later on.
Young Malik — who was reportedly offered a place at the Bayern academy as a sweetener to bring Timothy to the club from the Greuther Fürth youths — hopes to one day play alongside his sibling in the Bundesliga.
I started playing very early with my brother, a lot earlier than normal guys, probably aged three. It’d be fantastic if we could play together in the Bundesliga at some point, though our mom has said she’d rather see us play against each other.