Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann says it would be hard for any coach not to pick Thomas Muller.
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Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann may have joined the club just recently from RB Leipzig. However, he has already identified playmaker Thomas Mueller, as a player who will be vital in his goal of winning trophies. Nagelsmann termed Mueller as a player who is tough not to pick for a coach, having made his presence felt for former manager Hansi Flick.
“Thomas is an extremely ambitious person with a strong winning mentality. He was frustrated after the Euros, but with him, you know that when he’s fit, there are only a few coaches who wouldn’t pick him,” the Bayern manager told the Bild am Sonntag.
“He’s got outstanding quality and was always one of the most difficult players to prepare to face as an opponent, because you just can’t pick him up because he’s got this incredible feel for space. He’s always driven to play all the time and be the best, so why should I do without a player of such quality,” he added.
Mueller, Joshua Kimmich, Manuel Neur are some of the players Nagelsmann is looking to build his team around.
“When you see the axis of Hansi’s team and the players who played the most minutes and delivered outstanding performances, then you can see that it’s always a good idea, particularly in the central core areas, to have players with a certain amount of experience, quality and the corresponding winning mentality,” said Nagelsmann.
“Whether that’s Muller, Joshua Kimmich, Manuel Neuer, Robert Lewandowski, Leon Goretzka, they’re all key players, but I could name many more. In the end, Bayern’s ‘Mia san mia’ means being convinced of the way you are doing things, not settling for what you’ve already achieved, but always keeping on going and having a good self-belief; knowing that you can achieve everything, having the conviction that you can be successful and you can win titles.”
“I’ve always been fascinated by this Bayern gene and I saw it at youth level, whenever we played against Bayern. You could see it already when they arrived, even in the clothes they wore. They were very united, oozing this ‘Mia san mia’. They would take to the field with this self-belief and, while we didn’t lose every time we played against them, you could definitely tell that ‘Mia san mia’ was a concept that the youth players identified with. That doesn’t mean arrogance, but more the endeavour to be the best and to work hard for it. When you work hard, you’re permitted to behave that way,” he stated.
It will be interesting to note the performances of Bayern Munich under Nagelsmann, considering his exploits at RB Leipzig previously. The manager further denied any chances of Lewandoski moving to Real Madrid, refuting the rumours clearly.
“The rumours about Robert Lewandowski have been around for ages, I think since he joined Bayern. But when someone scores so many goals, it’s normal that every club would inquire about him. I spoke to him and texted him. I’m not a big fan of contracts and rumours being my first topic of discussion with my new players, but I’ll do that in a face to face conversation when he’s here,” he concluded.
