Die Werkself prioritized Carles Martínez’s new project over immediate profit, betting on the American playmaker to rediscover his prolific PSV form despite a difficult debut Bundesliga campaign.
Bayer Leverkusen had a major decision to make on the final days of the summer transfer window: accept a €45 million offer from Brighton & Hove Albion for Malik Tillman or keep faith with a player whose first season at the club had fallen well short of expectations.
Leverkusen chose the latter.
According to BILD, Brighton made a serious push for the 24-year-old United States international and were prepared to pay around €45 million for his signature. The offer arrived just one day before the transfer deadline, but Die Werkself refused to sell. It was not simply a financial decision. The club had already decided that Tillman's value to the new project under Carles Martínez outweighed the immediate profit that could have been made from his departure.
The decision is striking given how uncertain Tillman's future appeared only a few weeks earlier.
Signed from PSV Eindhoven for around €35 million in July 2025, Tillman arrived in Leverkusen after an outstanding campaign in the Netherlands. He had scored 21 goals in 34 competitive matches for PSV and was viewed as one of the most promising attacking midfielders in Europe. His first year in Germany, however, was a very different story.
He finished the 2025-26 Bundesliga campaign with six goals in 29 appearances, while his overall season produced eight goals and one assist in 44 matches. Leverkusen finished sixth, missing out on Champions League qualification, and Tillman struggled to establish himself as the influential figure the club had expected.
Tillman himself did not hide his frustration.
What I've shown so far hasn't been what I'm capable of. Last season was the worst I've played in my career.
He also acknowledged that the responsibility was partly his, while pointing to the relationship with former coach Kasper Hjulmand as a significant factor.
It was about the coach's trust and the backing from the club. Those are things I was missing.
Hjulmand is now gone, replaced by Carles Martínez, and that change has fundamentally altered Tillman's situation. The Spanish coach, appointed after three seasons at Toulouse and previously part of Barcelona's La Masia setup, has spoken about building a team based on intensity, passion and precision.
For Tillman, that represents the reset he had been waiting for.
He returned to Leverkusen after the World Cup, having played a prominent role for the United States, and immediately began working under Martínez. The midfielder has made it clear that he wants to understand the new coach's ideas before making any decision about his future.
I want to get to know the coach and his plan.
That opportunity has now been secured for him. Leverkusen's refusal to sell means Martínez can continue developing a player who offers something different in midfield: size, technical ability, attacking movement and the freedom to operate between midfield and attack.
The timing of the decision also had an interesting consequence elsewhere in the Bundesliga. Once Brighton failed to pry Tillman away from Leverkusen, the Premier League club turned to another Bundesliga midfielder, Stuttgart's Chema Andrés. Brighton completed the €23 million deal for the Spanish Under-21 international on deadline day, weakening one of Leverkusen's domestic rivals in the process.
So while Leverkusen passed up €45 million, the decision did not leave them empty-handed. They kept a player they believe can become important under Martínez, and Brighton ultimately took a midfielder from a Bundesliga competitor instead.
For Tillman, meanwhile, the message could hardly be clearer. A year after questioning whether his future belonged in Die Werkself, the club has effectively told him that his future is still at the BayArena.
Now he has to justify the faith.
