Because Thomas Müller is no longer set at FC Bayern under coach Thomas Tuchel, record national player Lothar Matthäus can imagine a change from the Munich veteran in the summer.
“If you do an analysis after the season and the coach explains to both the team and those responsible what he wants and imagines for the coming season, I would be surprised if Müller suddenly became a regular player again,” wrote Matthäus in his column for the TV channel “Sky”.
Then, in his opinion, the point has been reached where Müller “at least takes a very close look at the transfer market, if not to say goes,” the 62-year-old suspected. “Because he doesn’t do that.”
Matthäus sees the problem in the fact that Müller cannot be assigned a clear position in the offensive area. “He needs a coach who can play a system that Muller fits into, like Flick did. Both Niko Kovac and Pep Guardiola were coaches who didn’t see it that way. If you’re in a 4-2 -3-1 plays, with a clear 6, an 8 and a 10, then one can conclude that Muller is not a player who can be clearly attributed to one of these positions.”
Müller is “a nine and a half that ideally buzzes around a target player like Robert Lewandowski,” said the 1990 world champion.
Thomas Müller “the number one leader” of FC Bayern
Tuchel only put Müller on the bench in both Champions League duels against Manchester City and most recently in the Bundesliga duel against Hertha BSC – decisions that, according to Matthäus, contain a lot of explosives.
In terms of personality, experience, will and charisma, the 33-year-old is “the number one leader of this team”.
Matthäus therefore advised Tuchel: “In this difficult phase, I would rather rely on the qualities of a leader than stick to my position plan.”
In the event of Müller changing, Matthäus also expects fan anger. According to Matthäus, the supporters of the German record champions will “not like a farewell to the native of Munich, because he is the identification figure par excellence for FC Bayern”.