Malik Tillman teed up for Celtic transfer as Parkhead scout told 'sign him blind' before Rangers switch

Former Hertha Berlin assistant manager Mark Fotheringham recommended Malik Tillman to Celtic before the forward joined Rangers.

The former Parkhead youngster revealed he talked the player but the Hoops reportedly had their eyes fixed on now Hamburg midfielder Filip Bilbija instead during a scouting trip last season.. Tillman put pen to paper to join the Ibrox side on a season-long loan last month and has made a strong start in Govan. He headed home a crucial goal to secure his club's place in the Champions League playoff round with a win against Union Saint Gilloise.

But things could have been very different after Fotheringham told Celtic 's European scout that Tillman was definitely one to consider while he was still on the books at Bayern Munich. The 20-year-old is already proving to be a key recruit for Gio van Bronckhors t but former Hoops man Fotheringham reckons he could have done his ex-club a turn, too.

He told the Scottish Sun : “Tillman’s a brilliant talent. just wish he was at Celtic. I know their European scout and bumped into him last year at a Greuther Furth game. I told him all about Tillman. I actually said, ‘Mate, sign him blind. Trust me, he’s a great player who’d be perfect for Celtic’. He had been asking me about another player, a boy called Filip Bilbija who I’d coached at Ingolstadt.

"Now, he’s also a great talent and actually joined Hamburg a few months ago on a free transfer. I’m convinced after two seasons he’ll move to a Bayern or Red Bull Leipzig. Anyway, my conversation with him turned to Tillman. I don’t know what happened afterwards, whether he passed on my comments to the first-team management or made up his own mind on the boy. It doesn’t matter now.

"'He actually said, ‘Yeah, we