Bayern's title dreams with priceless Mueller

Shortly before Bayern Munich kicks off its 2015/2016 Champions League campaign, much of the talk is about a fairytale come true. However the man today regarded as the most valuable player in the 2015 German champion's squad was not long ago plagued with doubts about his future in Munich.

Two years ago, when coach Pep Guardiola took over, Thomas Mueller was considering joining another club as he was uncertain about his future in the Bavarian capital.

"I wanted to know what comes next for me and so I asked them," the 26-year-old striker remembered when talking prior to the 2013 Champions League winner's match against Olympiacos Piraeus in Group F this Wednesday evening.

Mueller stuck to Bayern - extended his contract until 2019 - but still had to fight for his place as Guardiola sometimes wondered how he could best employ his unconventional striker. Today people cannot imagine Bayern Munich existing without Mueller.

"Kicker", the German football magazine, revealed that Manchester United not long ago put out their feelers for Mueller and made an extraordinary offer of up to 120 million euros for the forward plus a 12.5 million salary.

But any doubts about Mueller had long disappeared and Bayern' s CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said for a good reason: "There are players without a price tag." Mueller is currently the only one. Not just because he is virtually a guarantee for a constant stream of goals - but because Mueller is the man who stands for Bayern Munich's identity. And moreover, he is now regarded as Germany's shining football star. He doesn't fit the norm as he is a unique character quite unlike like a Messi or Ronaldo: Not stylish but glamourous in his own way. You could call him a people' s hero.

All kinds of companies are vying for him to be their figurehead as climbs up the scale of popularity like no other German professional footballer - and beyond all club borders as Mueller is regarded as a rare individual item. Mueller's star only began to rise a short while ago but is now at the very top of footballing heaven.

Mueller has won the Champions League (2013), four German league titles, the German cup on three occasions and, at the age of 20, won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but he was never what one expects of a footballer. He doesn't drive a fancy sports car, has no tattoos and does not fit into the world of style. A man with a far from an impressive athletic image who has skinny legs and his own hair-style. Mueller was (and maybe is?) more the non-elegant football nerd you would smile about and like because he appears to be one out of the ordinary who has made it somehow to the top and has not since changed. Someone like you and me - not a star lightyears away living in another world.

After Bastian Schweinsteiger left for Manchester United a few weeks ago, Mueller jumped in to shore up the gap and demanded a leading role next to team captain Philipp Lahm and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. To sell Mueller to Manchester as well would have been Bayern's biggest ever mistake. His goals and his unpredictability for every opponent is one of the reasons why Bayern Munich is regarded as one of the three or four clubs capable of winning win this season's Champions League. Bayern CEO Rummenigge today rates Mueller as being ready to become one of the leading stars in world football. While Bayern was touring China last summer, Rummenigge remarkably often spoke about Mueller's new leading role in the Bayern squad.

Meanwhile Mueller has turned into Bayern Munich's top ambassador in the leading clubs' worldwide race to attract fans.

His goal and assist figures are on the rise (six goals for Bayern in the first four league games and three in the last two internationals for Germany) and his instinct is outstanding as he surprises even German head-coach Joachim Low with his unconventional way to sniff out the right place to be to score. "He has got a unique instinct," Loew said. Diagrams tracking his movement on the pitch appear more confusing than the ups and downs of the international stock market on a black Friday.

"Sometimes I think, what the hell is he doing - and then he suddenly scores," said Rummenigge. After Mueller scored twice in the Euro qualifier against Scotland and the Scottish newspapers headlined, their team had been "Muellered", meaning destroyed by a single man ghosting into the penalty box to score supernatural goals.

Poland's outstanding striker Robert Lewandowski, Arjen Robben (who like Franck Ribery is sidelined for the new few weeks due to injury - Mario Goetze is ready for action) or Arturo Vidal might kiss the logo on their club shirt or dress up in traditional Bavarian "Lederhosen", they always will be far off being an authentic character a la Thomas Mueller who was born in the little Bavarian village of Paehl, where his parents and friends still live.

His reaction on being asked about his goals in this season Champions League he answers pragmatically: "The title is what we want, what do you think?" But Bayern Munich's new hero is full of the famous Bavarian cryptic humor as well. After scoring five goals to win the "Golden Boot" at the 2014 World Cup, in his first interview after being awarded the trophy right after the last game, he first of all greeted his grandmother back home and then asked the reporter for a deodorant "to make sure everybody in the studio will survive the interview." Endi