Bayern Munich’s Thomas Müller talks Bavaria, new contract and plans after retirement

Bayern Munich’s Thomas Müller, in today’s day and age, remains a unique one-club man. He recently spoke extensively with Tz about many aspects of his personal and professional life, including why leaving Bayern Munich and Munich in itself would be difficult.

“I have long-standing friendly relationships here, whether with physios, doctors or the kitchen team. The feeling is simply good. And then you also have the region: Leaving Munich is not easy. Regardless of whether I grew up here or not. Sure, we’re not on the beach. But I’m not at all sure that the beach will win out over the mountain in the long run,” said Müller.

That is not to say everything is about his roots; Müller stays at Bayern, his boyhood club, because there is a winning culture at the club and because, almost every year, he gets to add to his medal collection. When asked why he decided to stay at FC Bayern “forever”, Müller gave a genuine reply.

“That’s a simple answer, because I have everything I enjoy here in professional soccer. I can’t judge what it’s like elsewhere. But here I definitely know that I’m playing for titles - both nationally and internationally. We’ve won a lot of championships over the past ten to 15 years and have always played for Europe’s crown. Accordingly, the conditions on the sporting side are super and by no means boring,” Müller remarked.

Speaking of Europe’s top crown, Müller missed some vital chances against Villarreal in the Champions League this season. Perhaps, as a result, when asked whether his contract had a clause which would make it easy to extend till 2025 if he met certain parameters, Müller had this to say according to the newspaper: “No, there is no clause.”

That does not mean that Müller cannot imagine playing professionally beyond 2024. When speaking about Paolo Maldini, the AC Milan legend, in the interview, the player who symbolizes Bayern currently was asked about how long he expects his own career to last. Müller does not expect it to run as long as Maldini’s did: “I have it in my mind to play at the top level until 2025. Whether that will happen, I don’t know. But that’s the game plan. That hasn’t changed.”

What would the legendary Die Roten player after quitting the game anyway? He is not thinking about it too much right now.

“I’m at a stage in my career where you can’t help but think about it. But it never becomes concrete because I need far too much focus to be able to keep up at this level,” Müller said. “That’s why I can’t build up a second leg in another field on the side. I’m putting that on the back burner. I’m comfortable with it, I don’t feel any pressure, and I have a variety of options.

Speaking of options, Bayern had the option of getting any result against Wolfsburg on the final day. He mentioned, about the game: “We want to win, have fun on the pitch and give our fans a nice end to the season before we can finally celebrate with them again on Marienplatz the next day.”

While Bayern didn’t win against Wolfsburg, Müller, ever the life of the party, did indeed have a good time, judging by the videos and images, at the Marienplatz celebrations!

Do you think Thomas Müller will remain at Bayern for the remainder of his career? Let us know your thoughts and as always, thank you for reading!