Michael Beale has wished Malik Tillman all the best for his PSV Eindhoven career – but only after the Champions League clash with Rangers.
The midfielder will return to Ibrox to face his former club in the first leg of the play-off round showdown just weeks after the end of his time in blue.
Tillman was a standout performer for Beale and Giovanni van Bronckhorst last term and collected the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year prize.
Rangers were unable to make his switch from Bayern Munich permanent, though, after the Bundesliga giants activated a £1million clause to cancel out the transfer arrangement that was in place.
Tillman has subsequently put pen-to-paper on a switch to Eindhoven and will now get the chance to make his mark back on familiar territory after returning to Glasgow on Monday.
Beale said: "Two things on that. The agreement was in place before I came in terms of how it was structured.
"We stuck to our side of the agreement. Quite frustratingly, Bayern stuck to their side and the did buy-back that they had.
"Malik knows that outside of the games against Rangers that he has got our full support.
"He was fantastic for us. I spoke to him a lot over the summer.
“He is just back from a long-term injury and I think it is a good move for him. We wish him well, outside of these games obviously.
"He is a fantastic young player. I don’t want to go too far into it but the agreement that was there was a number we had to hit and Bayern hit the number straight back.
"They did that, he is their player and that was their prerogative. In a way, it showed the value that Bayern had on him. They have only loaned him out again this year.
"Malik has got a lot of people that like him in football, there were a lot of clubs that called me to ask reference on young Malik.
"He is coming back from a difficult injury and, as I say, after these two games we wish him well."
