Rangers loan star is now worth £27m more than Cerny after leaving in 2023

It’s been a pretty miserable season for Rangers supporters, but fair to say they’ve had a good week.

Last Thursday, Barry Ferguson’s Gers reached the Europa League quarter-finals, ousting Fenerbahçe on penalties.

Following a 3-1 victory in İstanbul, the Light Blues were then actually beaten 2-0 on a nervy night at Ibrox, before Jack Butland proved to be the hero, denying both Dušan Tadić and Fred from 12 yards before Mert Hakan Yandaş spooned his attempt high into the Glasgow night sky.

Then, on Sunday, Ferguson’s men were 3-2 winners at Celtic Park, with Nicolas Raskin and Mohamed Diomandé on target in the first half before, after the hosts had drawn level, Hamza Igamane struck in the 89th minute to snatch a famous Old Firm victory.

So, as Rangers look ahead to a huge European tie against Athletic Club Bilbao next month, enjoying having one loan star in their team, would they be even stronger had they been able to keep hold of another?

Why Václav Černý is in the news following Sunday’s Old Firm

The fall-out following Sunday’s Glasgow derby has largely centred around Václav Černý, who appeared to squirt some Celtic supporters in the front row with his water bottle while celebrating Igamane’s late winner.

Rory Cassidy and Jonathan Blackburn of Glasgow Live have reported that a ‘police probe has been launched’ following the incident, with a police spokesperson saying “officers received information and enquiries are ongoing.”

Ex-Rangers right-back Alan Hutton, speaking Premier Sports’ Scottish Football Social club, said “he knows what he’s doing…he shouldn’t have done it… he could’ve started a riot”.

Meanwhile, Rangers supporters have responded to this by bidding for Černý’s jersey on a site called Match Worn Shirt; at the time of writing, the current highest bid is £24,000 while, for context, the highest bid for any other top is only £548, which is for James Tavernier’s.

This is, of course, due to the unusualness of the incident, but is also a reflection of Černý’s excellent form, scoring 17 goals

across all competitions this season, while his tally of six in the Europa League is bettered only by Ayoub El Kaabi of Olympiacos and Bodø/Glimt’s Kasper Høgh.

According to Mark Walker of the National, Černý’s parent club Wolfsburg would be willing to sell him this summer for as little as £6.75m, a deal Rangers absolutely need to finalise, thereby showing they have learnt the lessons from the last time they had an excellent attacker on loan, and failed to make the move permanent.

Former Rangers loanee’s value has skyrocketed since leaving

While Cerny has undoubtedly stolen the headlines this season and indeed this week with Rangers, they may well have let an even bigger talent slip through their clutches.

When Malik Tillman joined Rangers in 2022, arriving on loan from Bayern Munich, then manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst labelled him an “exciting young talent”, with then Sporting Director Ross Wilson adding he was “pleased” to have “secured an exclusive option to buy”, more on that later.

Fair to say, the young American made a big impact at Ibrox, heading home the winner during a famous Champions League qualifying comeback victory over Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, bagging 12 goals across all competitions in total.

So, while then manager Michael Beale said he wanted to keep “fantastic talent” Tillman at the club, Euan Booth Robertson of the Rangers Review later reported that Bayern Munich had ‘cancelled the option-to-buy clause’, paying a penalty fee of £1m.

Instead, he was loaned out to PSV Eindhoven, part of the side that smashed Rangers 7-3 in a Champions League play-off in August 2023, before making the move to the Eredivisie champions permanent for £12m, which the Gers pocketed 10% of.

Now 22-years-old, the USMNT international has scored 20 goals and provided 18 assists in 65 appearances for the Red and Whites, earning rave reviews, including from former Denmark international Kenneth Pérez, who described him as the best player in the Eredivisie.

Tillman did require ankle surgery in January, after suffering an injury against Excelsior during a KNVB Beker tie, but manager Peter Bosz says his recovery is “going well” and that he should be back soon.

Despite currently being sidelined, Trasfermarkt believe Tillman’s current market value is £25m, at its highest-ever point, leading to speculation that Bayern Munich could exercise a buy-back clause of £35m.

For context, Černý’s current value is only £7.5m, so, let’s assess how the duo compare.

As the table outlines, while Tillman’s statistics weren’t off the scale at Rangers, he’s taken his game to a whole nother level since making the move to Eindhoven.

Thus, the American would certainly have been a valuable asset, both on the park but both literally in the transfer market too, had the Gers been able to secure his services permanently.