No, Thomas Muller is not moving to Manchester United. This oft-repeat rumour has been killed off, hopefully once and for all.
Manchester United have gained a reputation for buying players when they are past their best. It was a strategy employed by Ed Woodward, chasing a big name to appease fans, sell shirts and garner attention.
Let’s look the track record. Bastian Schweinsteiger’s arrival in 2014 kicked it all off. And it was a complete disaster.
Then followed an array of mid-30s forwards, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who each made single-season impacts, before burning out. More recently, Raphael Varane and Casemiro are feared to be heading the same way.
It’s understandable then, that players, or agents, or both, look towards Manchester United as a potential end-of-career destination. Although this reputation is hopefully one the club can shed.
Thomas Muller claims shut down
Bemusingly, ageing Bayern Munich forward Thomas Muller has once again been linked with a move to Manchester United.
Bayern aggregator account iMiaSanMia tweeted, referencing Bild: “Manchester United had shown interest in Thomas Müller last January. Erik ten Hag believes that, with his experience, Müller could be one of the players to help United back on the right track. Back then however, Müller was not interested.”
However, Bundesliga expert Jan-Aage Fjortoft has immediately shut it down, and spared us all the aggravation.
He wrote: “Is that time of the year when Thomas Müller starts talking to Bayern about extending his contract…..then usually Manchester United are mentioned / used to speed up the talks….and at the end the Bayern – legend will sign for another year.”
Fjortoft is right. This is exactly how it will play out. Thomas Muller is a one-club man and it is expected to remain so. Manchester United may need a goalscorer, but the veteran is not the answer.
Been here before
Manchester United found out the hard way once before that Thomas Muller would not leave Bayern Munich, with Louis van Gaal making an attempt to sign him.
The Dutchman wanted to bring him to Manchester United in 2015, while he was still in his mid-to-late 20s.
BILD claimed United were willing to pay more than £80 million for his signature, which we don’t doubt, but the forward was not tempted away, and renewed his Bayern deal.
Van Gaal told Talksport in 2021: “I tried to bring Muller to Manchester both in the 2014/2015 season and in the 2015/2016 season.
“In 2015 it would have been possible if his wife had been a little more open to a transfer abroad.
“At least that was the reason Thomas gave my assistant Marcel Bout, who had had all the conversations with him, why the transfer had been rejected.”
It’s doubtful Muller’s wife fancies a change of scene now, and nor do we believe this current iteration of United are actually interested.
This season the 34-years-old has scored only two goals for Bayern Munich, although he could feature against Manchester United in the Champions League early next month.
Fabrizio Romano reports Muller is undecided over his future, while also shutting down Antoine Griezmann to Manchester United speculation.
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