Oliver Kahn says Thomas Muller is a “phenomenon,” backs a return to the German national team

The prospect of Thomas Muller possibly returning to the German national team is a topic of discussion that just won’t seem to go away. The Raumdeuter has been one of Bayern Munich’s most influential players both this season and last season, leaving fans and pundits alike pining for his return to Joachim Low’s Die Mannschaft setup.

When recently speaking to Bild, Oliver Kahn offered his praises for Muller and echoed the popular idea that he should 100% be reinstated to Low’s setup for the German National team (Sport Bild).

“In terms of quality, Thomas could play in the national team at any time. Jogi Löw wants to reassess this in the spring. Thomas is a phenomenon ” Kahn said. “Jogi Löw made decisions that were painful for Bayern players.”

The timing of Löw’s decision to drop Muller, Jerome Boateng, and Mats Hummels didn’t help as Low dropped the bad news in between the first and second legs of the Champions League round of 16 matchup against Liverpool in the 2018/2019 season. From a Bayern standpoint, the timing of the decision was incredibly inconvenient.

Photo by Laurens Lindhout/Soccrates /Getty Images

The stats speak for themselves for Muller. Last season, he scored eight goals and provided 26 assists from a total of 49 appearances across all competitions. His 21 assists in the Bundesliga was a league best mark and he proved why he had every right be befuddled as to why he was benched by Niko Kovac in the beginning stages of the season before the Croatian was sacked. This season, he’s already found the back of the net eight times and has provided 10 assists from 22 appearances, so he’s on pace to have another fantastic campaign.

While Kahn played a convincing mediator’s role to be able to get Hansi Flick and Hasan Salihamidzic to see eye-to-eye on their differing transfer market ideas, he might not have as much pull with Low and the DFB.

Kahn understands that, to a certain degree, Low will have to stick to his laurels and continue to phase in younger players to the German squad, but he still feels that for Muller, “the door for a return has not slammed completely.”