Muller is better than Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe… this season

In 32 appearances in all competitions, he has amassed an incredible tally of 13 goals and 15 assists. If you look at the numbers you would think it is Lionel Messi or Bruno Fernandes, maybe even Cristiano Ronaldo (if he passed more)... In fact, it is one of the most underrated players in the last decade - Thomas Muller.

With another goal contribution 2 days ago, assisting another statistical marvel which is Robert Lewandowski - Thomas Muller takes the topic of not being mentioned enough to a new level. That is why Stefan Bienkowski, a football writer for footballcritic.com, made a thorough analysis of German's games and numbers in comparison to other players whose names you see much more in the papers or on your screens.

In the mentioned game against Koln, essentially with his first touch after walking on to the pitch, Muller received a pass in the middle of the opposing half, looked up and played a through ball towards the on-running Lewandowski to score a third and effectively kill off the game. Although it is not that obvious, German champions rely heavily on their 31-year-old forward and just don’t look the same without him. If you look at the matches played without him, Muller’s absence had been acutely felt in the previous two games. As the forward was isolating from a positive Coronavirus test, Bayern dropped points in a 3-3 draw with relegation-threatened Arminia Bielefeld then lost all three in a defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt a few days later.

Second signing for Bayern and it's only the 1st of March

Muller has a remarkable ability to score and create in equal measure. Sometimes he’s the playmaker, sometimes he’s the target man. But more often than not, he’s always the match-winner. When you take Muller’s Bundesliga performances up into his average goal contribution per 90 minutes it spits out a number that suggests the German forward is roughly either scoring or assisting 1.02 goals per match. And when we filter out penalties and any player that has played less than 1000 minutes in their domestic division, we find that Muller’s average is one of the best in Europe.

Although Muller sits behind teammate Lewandowski as well as Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland and Stuttgart attacking midfielder Sasa Kalajdzic, the former German international is still outperforming the likes of Mbappe, Messi and Ronaldo.

For example, PSG forward Kylian Mbappe sits just below him on 1.01, Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane can muster just 0.98, while Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo sit even further down the pecking order with averages of 0.93 and 0.89 respectively.

Despite winning dozens of trophies with Bayern and the German national team, Muller has always been an underrated player. But this season’s stats suggest he’s currently one of the very best players in the world.