Injury setback delays Tillman's first appearance for Leverkusen

Expectations are high for Malik Tillman following after his joint club-record €35 million move to Bayer Leverkusen from PSV:

However, Leverkusen fans will have to wait a little longer before seeing the new signing in action.

Tillman watched Tuesday’s 3–0 friendly win over Pisa from the bench due to what the club described as a “minor stress reaction from training” - and he won’t feature in Friday’s friendly against Chelsea either.

When asked when Tillman will finally make his Leverkusen debut, Bayer 04 coach Erik ten Hag told Bild:

“I can’t say."

“We have to take it day by day and hope things work out. I’m sure he won’t be available on Friday.”

Striker Victor Boniface, whose workload has been carefully managed during pre-season, was also expected to get minutes against Pisa. 

But after Edmond Tapsoba was sent off, the Nigerian forward remained on the bench.

“We’re trying to build ‘Boni’ back up, and he’s doing everything he can to get there,” said ten Hag.

“A red card doesn’t help with that, so unfortunately, we couldn’t bring him on.”