Rood-Witten (& Blau) Malik Tillman at PSV America (olf Bayern Munich)

Not sure why Leverkusen or the Bundesliga are being put on a pedestal. Leverkusen is arguably the 4th biggest club in a one-team league. Anybody who wants to pump up their Bundesliga title is basically just underscoring how much Bayern dominates the league.

And I don’t mean to crap on them. I just see that level of club as the next logical step for a guy in Tillman’s shoes. If he’s going to be a star, he should be able to do well there.

 

Agreed

 

There is no question that Malik can play in the BuLi. The only discussion is if Leverkusen is the right club for his next step?

 

One team league? Are you confusing the BuLi with League One in France?

Leverkusen won the BuLi last season and finished 2nd this season. Dortmund made the UCL final last season.

Malik is 23, nobody knows if he is going to be a star or not. Taking the wrong next step in your career is one way to derail yourcareer. See Gio Reyna or Delle Ali, ...

 

I mean BM has dominated over the years, but they're no PSG. And I'd argue a consistently top 5 B1 team is the most logical move for Tillman - and also good for him. His German background, BM training, German youth team experience all will make this the easiest top 5 league to adjust to, and tactically it might make his game a bit boring, but I think it will round it out somewhat. I don't know enough about how BL will look next year to know how it compliments MT, but on paper, any of the top Bund clubs would be the most logical step.

 

12 out of last 13 bayern.
11 out of last 12 PSG. Pretty similar.

 

Not at all, look at the gap between the first and 2nd team. Look at European competitions. How does BuLi perform v League 1?

 

They’re only 7 points off from each other in the UEFA Coefficients, so not that differently. The gap is smaller than the one between Italy and Spain.

4 French teams made the CL knockouts this year, 3 German teams did, and 1 French team won it.

1 French team made the EL knockouts this year, 1 German team did, both advancing to the quarters.

0 French teams made the Conference knockouts (they didn’t even make the league phase lol), 1 German team did and lost in the first knockout round.

 

BM has only won the B1 on points outright 1 in the last 3, right? Sure, it's a dominant team and perennial favorite, but they are not beyond a challenge. And if high percentage chance of winning the league is your key metric for a team, there's not a lot of top league teams you can both go to and have a reasonable shot of starting at.

 

Logical step to go from the best team in the Eredivisie as a top performer to a top 6 team in a top 5 league. He going to a team in a rebuilding phase with a new manager. Different expectations with Xabi and big names leaving.

Top 4 finish would be a good result for them.

 

It's also not like the Eredivisie is far far away from that magical "top 5 league".

 

While this is not a flattering picture of Earnie, one thing's for certain: whether it's Bayer or Bayern, PSV stand to make a tidy profit.

 

Hey @Flamengo! 👋🇧🇷

Our first test of pre-season will take place in Rio! See you there! 🤝⚫️🔴
#esquentaB04 pic.twitter.com/Xx7ZhHhMWh

— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) June 25, 2025

Leverkusen first test of pre-season will take place in Rio vs. Flamengo!

 

Yeah, they got maybe the best player in the league for a couple seasons and will make a nice profit off of it. Pretty dumb to "blame" Stewart for how this is going.

 

Top comment.

 

Glad you mentioned this. This isn't going to be 2023-24 or 24-25 Leverkusen without Wirtz, Xhaka, Frimpong, Tah, Buendia, and of course Alonso. They were fantastic the last two years and prior to that a Top 5-6 team going back almost a decade. Leon Bailey was a fixture there for 4.5 seasons and in my mind Tillman has the capacity to be at least as good as Bailey.

 

We would expect that Leverkusen will be a top 5 team going forward. If Bayer wanted to keep investing they might have kept Xabi and the current crew for a few more years and the BuLi could have been a 3+ team race but alas not to be.

Remember when Leon was there he was the young pup with Brandt and Havertz expected to carry the offensive load. Leon was and is still much more of a speed slasher/wide attacker that would actually pair very well with Malik.

This coming season will be much more of a rebuild under a new system. We will see how it goes. I think it will be a great opportunity for malik if the deal goes through.

 

We may get to see Caipirinha Tillman

 

What was it, 11 titles in a row for Bayern…
Definition of a 1 team league. Even when they are bad…they still are winning. Dodtmund, Leipzig, Leverkusen and some others run out decent sides from time to time but it’s a 1 team league

 

I honestly think the top 5 league chatter is nonsense. It’s becoming ever closer to an invisible super league (PSG, Bayern, Inter??, Madrid, Atleti, Barca with City, Liverpool, Arsenal, maybe Chelsea) then the PL, then everybody else

Top players from top teams in the “big 5 leagues” will move to mediocre PL sides

Doesn’t mean that teams like Leverkusen can’t get a couple good years together (or Porto or PSV) but they will eventually lose out to the champions league contenders or PL

 

Thanks for letting me know, i will be sure to keep that at top of mind.

 

There is, however, (tbf, which I hate to be) a bit more of a difference in day-in/day-out quality of opponent. Playing Ajax, Feyenie, Utrecht, AZ, sometimes Twente, esp away, can be as competitive as many "top 5" games, but the bottom 1/3, even 1/2 of the Ered just doesn't provide the same challenge - for the most part - as the majority of the lower tier teams in the other 5 leagues. Germany would be the next logical step in a carefully curated career. I don't know enough about the 25/26 BL plans to have a strong opinion on whether that's the best club, but as long as the coach wants him and he fits the system, it's likely to be a smart step forward.

 

It also really depends on what the context of the convo is. If what you talking about is "will the team X player is moving to win the league" then your high % choices are pretty limited.

But is the convo "will the player face the best competition and be required to prove themselves week-in/week-out about the best overall opponents, then you have a different convo, which a much larger pool of reasonable options. And then add the idea that it's not great to be on a completely outclassed team, esp as an attacking player and the pool shrinks a bit more. But yeah, if the idea is "I only go to teams that win leagues" you may as well spend you days at PSV. But if it's I want to play the best opponents, with the best support squad, as often as possible, it's a whole nother cup of wax.

 

When you exclude Bayern München, the BuLi is very competitive.