The smiling Thomas Müller cannot wait for pre-season to start, and to meet his new Bayern Munich team-mates. - © © imago / DeFodi
The smiling Thomas Müller cannot wait for pre-season to start, and to meet his new Bayern Munich team-mates. - © © imago / DeFodi

Müller champing at bit ahead of Bayern's pre-season start

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Thomas Müller is champing at the bit to get back into action following his summer break, and he cannot wait to see some of Bayern Munich's summer signings arrive on 1 July.

There is less than a week now until the record champions are put through their paces for the first time in preparation for the 2017/18 season, with Carlo Ancelotti congregating his troops at the Säbener Straße next Saturday.

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There will be plenty of new faces there, and some more familiar ones notable by their absence. Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso have both retired while Tom Starke has pinned up his gloves. Serge Gnabry, Niklas Süle, Sebastian Rudy and Corentin Tolisso have all been drafted in, and Müller cannot wait to welcome them.

Watch: Müller opens the 2010/11 season in some style

"We've signed some great lads who bring a lot of potential with them," he told Germany's Bild newspaper. "Just look at Germany's starting XI against Chile [at the Confederations Cup] – Sebastian Rudy was so cool and comfortable on the ball. You need people like him for games when the stakes are high."

Tolisso, who arrives from Lyon, should also add a new dimension to the Bayern midfield, and Müller admits he is "excited about getting to know him."

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Ancelotti's task over the first few weeks of pre-season will be not just getting to know the new faces, but also ensuring they feel at home as quickly as possible, because Müller says it is all well and good signing proven stars, but they need to fit in to a winning structure.

- © gettyimages / Adam Pretty

The 27-year-old is intent on ensuring his success story does not end there, however, expressing his hunger to win more trophies and score more goals for Bayern.

"I am responsible for goals, it's my duty to be valuable in attack and that's what it is all about," he said. "I'm focusing on preparing myself well, hitting the ground running and lending my strength to the team, and I want to play an important role again. The only pressure I feel is that which I place on myself, all the rest is normal footballing pressure."

That is the kind of pressure Müller thrives on, and that is why he is getting itchy feet with under a week to go until the start of pre-season for the record champions, as the anticipation levels grow.

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