What a strange world it will be for both Bayern Munich and the wider footballing community to no longer see Thomas Muller plying his trade at the Allianz Arena.
The German international, who was reportedly at one stage set to receive a fresh contract offer, was the hero of the hour as he produced an 85th-minute equaliser in the Champions League.
Davide Frattesi sadly broke hearts three minutes later with the eventual winner for Inter Milan in the first leg of their quarter-final clash.
Now, onto the San Siro, there is a make-or-break second leg under the lights.
Thomas Muller gets warm Bayern reception
Bayern fans made their adoration for Muller clear as the No.25 got up from the bench to receive instructions ahead of his second-half entry into the tie.
Florian Plettenberg, reporting on X (formerly Twitter), relayed the warm reception for the 35-year-old.
🚨🔴 Thomas Müller gets ready. The whole stadium is chanting his name. pic.twitter.com/SqvsJqarN9
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) April 8, 2025
The attacker has now registered 11 goal contributions (six goals and five assists) in 37 games (across all competitions) at a rate of one every 119.27 minutes.
Despite the defeat for Bayern, this was a special moment.
Stephan Lehmann: “Thomas!”
Bayern fans:”MÜLLER!”
x5 pic.twitter.com/WFsY7ir56Z— Archie Rhind-Tutt (@archiert1) April 9, 2025
Could Bayern change their minds on contract extension?
It would seem a little unlikely that Bayern Munich end up changing their minds once again.
Plettenberg noted in a separate tweet, relaying comments made by Jan-Christian Dreesen, that we’ve ultimately committed to a sporting decision.
🚨🔴 CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen on whether it's possible to reverse the decision not to extend @esmuellert_:
„We made a decision (…) Now we're looking ahead and we want to be successful together in the next few weeks and months. We'll always be linked to each other.“ @HKane… pic.twitter.com/aqpkZkZsHk
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) April 8, 2025
At 35 years of age, we can entirely understand where the club’s decision-makers are coming from – particularly given that Max Eberl has been tasked with cutting the wage bill.
Muller’s €288k-a-week salary (according to Capology), which accounts for 5.46% of Bayern’s squad payroll, would go some way to helping achieve that objective.
We’ll most certainly reinvest this summer and build on a potential Bundesliga title-winning campaign under Vincent Kompany (even more ideally with a Champions League trophy).
Still, we’d hope that Dreesen and Co. don’t make the mistake of underestimating the scale of the loss in a figure as prominent as Thomas Muller.
It’s not just goals and big moments in the games that matter – it’s the hit to the leadership structure, not to mention the winning genome and culture underpinning FC Bayern.
