Hansi Flick says he thinks Gerd Müller is the greatest footballer of all time.

Gerd Müller turns 75 in just a couple of days, not too far off from Pele celebrating his 80th birthday and Diego Maradona celebrating his 60th birthday. In the footballing world, it’s a legendary period for birthdays given that Pele, Maradona, and Müller are some of, if not the, best players ever to have played the game.

In a recent interview (via Az), Hansi Flick said that he personally considers Gerd Müller to be the greatest footballer of all time. “For me in my childhood he was the coolest striker, because he scored the goals at the front with a matter of course that is no longer available. Well, Lewy still has it,” Flick said of his footballing idol.

Flick also reflected on meeting Müller during his playing days at Bayern Munich. He said that the “Bomber der Nation” was his absolute idol during his youth and said, “I was very happy when I got to know him. I wish him all the best for his birthday and health.”

It’s virtually impossible to mention Bayern without mentioning Gerd Müller. He scored 515 goals in only 576 matches across all competitions for Bayern and 68 times in only 62 matches for Die Mannschaft, including a goal in the 1974 World Cup final against The Netherlands. Only Pele (Santos, 643) and Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona, 636) have scored more goals for a single club in their careers despite the fact that league seasons were shorter back when Pele and Müller were playing.

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He still holds the overall scoring record for Bayern as well as the all elusive single season scoring record (40), which Robert Lewandowski has come close to equaling. The Polish ace finished last season with 34 Bundesliga goals and already has 10 goals from only 6 matches so far this season. If anyone can get close to Müller’s impressive single season tally, it’s Lewandowski and this season could be the season we see it happen.

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