Celtic missed out and £1.2m Christopher Scott has not started a game since

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Last summer, two exciting young midfielders left Bayern Munich in pursuit of regular first-team football. 

And one of them quickly found what they were looking for. With 10 goals and five assists, Malik Tillman is serving up slices of humble pie to all those who dared to wonder if he could handle the pressure and the expectations of a club the size of Rangers, not to mention an environment as hostile and unforgiving as Ibrox. 

But Christopher Scott, who played alongside Tillman in Bayern’s reserves, may not look back on his first few months away from the Bavarian goldfish bowl with quite so much fondness. Tillman has started 26 games in all competitions for Rangers. Scott, in contrast, is still awaiting his first for Royal Antwerp. 

Celtic missed out on former Bayern Munich starlet Christopher Scott

Antwerp paid around £1.2 million to sign the German U19 international last summer; Scott opting to cross the border into Belgium rather than join Tillman in Glasgow. Celtic, according to Sky Germany, had initially expressed an interest in a ‘massive talent’ likened to Champions League winner Kai Havertz due to his silky footwork and eye for goal (Daily Record). 

We will never know, of course, if Scott would have found starts easier to come by at Celtic. There’s certainly no shortage of competition for the attacking midfield spots under Ange Postecoglou; Liel Abada and Matt O’Riley among those who have had to be content with a rotation role in recent months. 

No starts all season

“I have heard that (the Belgian Jupiler League) is an interesting competition” Scott told HLN back in July. “For a young player like me to develop further.

“This is my first real season as a professional. At Bayern I mainly played in the second team. For me this is a big step, which I certainly don’t underestimate.”

Nine months on, Scott has featured 19 times for an Antwerp side coached by former Bayern ace Mark van Bommel. But every single one of those appearances has come from the substitute’s bench. 

Not all situations are the same, of course. Just because he has been unable to emulate Tillman’s immediate impact at Rangers, that does not mean Scott is destined to fail at Antwerp. He is not the first youngster to arrive in a new league, a new club and a new country and take some time to adapt.

But, having left Bayern in search of consistent first-team football, Scott will not want to go through his entire debut season at the Bosuilstadion without being included in Van Bommel’s XI on at least one occasion.