Who is Timothy Tillman? Bayern Munich's German-American Barcelona target

Timothy Tillman is a name drawing some buzz on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean these days, with Bayern Munich's 18-year-old prospect a reported target of Barcelona.

Why should that matter in the U.S.? Because Tillman is a German-American dual national with eligibility to represent the United States. According to Goal.com, the U.S. Under-18 national team has made overtures to Tillman, who was born in Germany to an American father, last November, and after at first accepting the chance to participate in a training camp, he opted to go with Germany's U-18 team.

That Tillman, a winger, would remain with Germany isn't entirely surprising given that he has played for Germany youth national teams from the U-15 to U-19 levels. His younger brother, Malik, however, is also a Bayern youth player and he has played for a U.S. U-15 team last summer in a tournament in Croatia.

In 14 league appearances with Bayern's U-19s this season, Tillman has scored three goals. He also scored a goal in five appearances in the UEFA Youth League (a Champions League-like competition for youth teams), scoring against Atletico Madrid's U-19s in September. His appeared for Bayern's first team in a 45-minute cameo during the International Champions Cup in the USA last summer against Inter Milan–the same match in which ex-Bayern teammate Julian Green scored a hat trick (Green since moved to Stuttgart in a full transfer).

Tillman joined Bayern Munich from Greuther Furth in 2015 for a reported fee of €500,000, and he's highly thought of at Bayern to the point that club president Uli Hoeness prevented him from going to Barcelona.

Given the plethora of German-American dual-nationals to play for the U.S. in recent years–among them Jermaine Jones, Fabian Johnson, John Brooks, Timothy Chandler, Green, Terrence Boyd, Jerome Kiesewetter, Danny Williams and Alfredo Morales–it's worth remembering the Tillman name for the present and future.