Are Thomas Müller’s salary, playing time roadblocks for an extension with Bayern Munich?

No one will ever fully replace Thomas Müller at either Bayern Munich or the German national team — that goes without saying. However, there will come a day at some point in the future that he will have to hang up the boots for Bayern and Die Mannschaft, so that’s something that has to be planned for from Bayern’s perspective.

Per new information from Sport1, Bayern’s front office is considering all options in terms of Müller’s current contract, which is set to expire next summer. Much like Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski, the club has every intention of getting him to sign a contract extension beyond next summer, but they are also discussing plans for the future. There will eventually come a time where he will have to agree with the club’s bosses that his minutes will start to get managed to help pave more opportunities for the younger players in the team that are making a name for themselves. In Jamal Musiala, the club already sees somewhat of a “replacement,” if you will, to a player of Müller’s caliber. While replacing the Raumdeuter himself is an impossible task, Musiala represents the type of player that can heed the future for Bayern with a lot of similar characteristics.

While at training camp with Germany, Müller has remained expectedly tight-lipped every time he’s been asked about his contract situation at Bayern. “My contract runs until 2023, so you have to see what we do there. There is a lot of respect for each other on both sides,” he said earlier this week.

Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance via Getty Images

By that same token, he expects himself to play at the highest level for another couple of years and is well aware of what he can contribute with his own self assessments. “I have had the idea of playing at the top level until 2025, and so it feels at the moment. I already have a certain demand on myself. As long as I can tip the scales in certain situations, I definitely have a desire to play football,” he said.

With what he’s said, it’s clear that he understands a transition period will soon come at Bayern, but he expects to be involved at a certain capacity until that time goes. For now, he feels that he’s still a key player and will likely expect that feeling to be reciprocated through the new contract offer that Bayern is expected to give him.