If there was any doubt, Thomas Müller can use a vacuum.
For the first time, the 35-year-old will live beyond the friendly confines of Bavaria, taking on a new challenge with Vancouver Whitecaps FC in MLS, where he was officially introduced on Thursday.
“I’m already grown up, I get along, and I know how to get through life reasonably well. I know how to vacuum and clean an apartment,” he chuckled in German, having spent the last 25 years of his life with FC Bayern Munich. “But, I know that the most important things happen on the pitch or at the training ground.”
The 13-time Bundesliga champion, who signed with the historically frugal Whitecaps instead of joining more common MLS destinations for European stars, was welcomed by fans at the airport on Wednesday.
He also received a traditional welcome and eagle feather from Wayne Sparrow and Wilson Williams, Chiefs of the Musqueam and Squamish First Nations, two of three Indigenous groups in Vancouver, and the club organized German delicacies for his official unveiling.
“The people are warm-hearted, they’re happy, and they welcomed me very warmly. I can understand it; I was a football fan myself,” he added. “But in the end, I’m here to play soccer. I was used to playing football. Now I’m playing soccer, and I will love it.”
Signing of Intent
For the Whitecaps, Müller is much more than just a star signing.
Yes, he reigns as the most prominent sports figure ever to represent a Vancouver team, but, his arrival comes with MLS Cup hopes for 2025 and 2026 as the Whitecaps sit second in the Western Conference with nine games remaining in the regular season.
It’s a message of intent for an organization seeking new ownership, and one which has had unheralded successes in MLS and Concacaf Champions Cup play this season. It’s also the most significant swing in sporting director and CEO Axel Schuster’s career.
“I have always spoken about the vision to build something sustainable here, to build an exciting team, one that is competitive, and that is going for a win in every single game," Schuster said. “At the same time, we’re only halfway there. For me, this is not the end; this is just somewhere in the middle of our journey, there’s a lot more to come from this club, and we will continue to grow.”
Since being revealed, tickets for the rest of the season and his presumed debut on Aug. 17 vs. Houston Dynamo FC have flown off shelves, the club has seen record kit sales, and its Instagram profile has gained more than 30,000 followers.
Yet, as much as the buzz encircles Vancouver in a summer that has also seen Son-Heung min and Rodrigo De Paul sign in MLS, Müller’s goal remained focused entirely.
“It’s not about winning titles in the past, it’s about winning titles in the future,” he said.
“That’s what motivates me. And it’s about the competition—your competition against yourself and your teammates to earn your spot. I was always a competitive guy. My love is to play soccer, and my body feels, even at this stage of my career, too good to retire.”
Adapting to MLS
Müller won’t have much time before hitting the pitch for the first time. He is set to join his teammates for a single training session, before his presumed MLS debut on Sunday.
However, he has “no idea” about how he will adapt to the new league for the first time since joining the FC Bayern first team in 2007.
The Whitecaps, though, have been an aggressive team, and one that Müller has become familiar with since engaging in an in-depth tactical conversation about how he would fit with head coach Jesper Sørensen as the club courted him.
“We play active and that’s what I loved all my career, to play active soccer. To have the foot on the gas and to control the game,” Müller added, mentioning that he can adapt his space-interpreting style as the “Chameleon Raumdeuter.”
“In any stage of the game, you have to find different solutions… I watched the cup game when I was on the plane, and when I talked to Jesper, I thought we were aligned.”
The 2014 World Cup champion also confirmed that there is no hesitancy towards BC Place’s artificial turf surface, which has proven a problem for the likes of David Beckham, Lionel Messi and other stars.
“My knees are like the knees of a 15-year-old, the doctor said,” he boasted. “So the knees are not a problem. I don’t think I’ll have a problem adapting. And normally on turf, it’s good for passing. You can pass it quickly.”
While there is always buzz around marquee new signings in MLS, only CF Montréal’s 2015 signing of Didier Drogba can compare to how Müller stacks up in Vancouver among the Canadian clubs.
But now, Müller’s focus will be on the pitch, where the Whitecaps hope he can lead them farther than ever before, and to a deep run in the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs.
“We want to ride the hype train as long as possible. We want to achieve something special,” he said. “Come to the stadium, dear fans. I also saw the Vancouver 1979 Soccer Bowl Championship documentary. I hope we can repeat something similar.”
