There has been no looking back in the career of Thomas Müller since he made his senior debut in August 2008
There has been no looking back in the career of Thomas Müller since he made his senior debut in August 2008

Müller his own man at Bayern

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Sharing a surname with FC Bayern München and Germany legend Gerd Müller is a challenge for any footballing wannabe, especially one whose game takes place in the attacking third of the field, but Thomas Müller is ensuring that the inevitable parallels with the Bomber der Nation have a distinctly positive hue.

A lot to live up to

In fact, a meteoric start to his still-young career has already taken the current Bayern forward close to the highs reached by his illustrious namesake.

Müller won the Golden Boot award as top scorer and was voted the best young player at the 2010 FIFA World Cup - only months after Argentina legend Diego Maradona failed to recognise him at a press conference minutes after his own side had just played him in a friendly. Müller made sure Maradona knew exactly who he was in South Africa with a headed goal in Germany's 4-0 quarter-final victory.

It was the culmination of a remarkable first full professional season for the Bavaria-born player, who prefers to play "just behind the strikers". Successful personal seasons followed, but the emergence of Borussia Dortmund and two UEFA Champions League final failures marred Müller's fledgling career.

Success at last


However, Müller's integral role in FC Bayern's rise back to European superpower, scoring 23 goals in all competitions en route to the club's quadruple-triumph in 2012/13, followed by the FIFA Club World Cup in another quadruple-winning 2013/14 campaign, had observers worldwide rushing to praise him, his movement and his starring role on the right-side of an attacking midfield trio.

Pep Guardiola also deployed the versatile attacker as a lone striker at times. Unsurprisingly, he excelled there too. After all, performances for club and country have long since established Bayern's "new" Müller as a star in his own right, and his signing of a new contract until 2019 prior to Germany's successful 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign - in which he scored five goals and provided three assists - underlined his importance.

Unorthodox and content


It is not just his champion mentality that sets him apart, it is also his physical approach, and indeed, despite appearing ungainly and possessing an apparently inferior technique to other players, Müller has surpassed them all. Neither is he bothered by observations that he may lack in aesthetic appeal as a player.

“I understand that many find it hard to get me as a player,” he told British newspaper The Observer in 2014. “They say: ‘Impossible, how did he do that?’ But, at some point, they maybe start thinking: ‘Oh, he’s quite good after all.’”