OFFICIAL: German legend Thomas Müller signs for Vancouver Whitecaps

The Vancouver Whitecaps officially confirmed Wednesday that the club has signed 35-year-old German international Thomas Müller for the remainder of the 2025 MLS season, with a Designated Player option for 2026.

"I’m happy to come to Vancouver, I’m excited to meet the team and my new teammates," Müller said in an interview with the Whitecaps. "I think everybody knows that the city of Vancouver is very beautiful, worldwide known, but as well the Whitecaps are reaching for something special this year. I’m a football player, so I’m always interested in what happens on the pitch. I saw some videos of the previous games and I think this year can be something special, and I want to take my part."

Müller arrives in Canada from Bayern Munich, where he is one of the club's most decorated players. Since making his debut for Bayern as an academy graduate in 2008, aged 19, Müller went on to make 756 appearances for his boyhood club, contributing 250 goals and 238 assists en route to winning 13 Bundesliga titles, as well as eight DFB-Pokals and two UEFA Champions Leagues. In Munich, he has been a teammate of Alphonso Davies since the Canadian international's arrival at the German club, and now Müller has made the jump to sign for Davies' former side in Vancouver.

"I talked to Alphonso, he told me a lot of good things about the city and about the Whitecaps, so I was a little bit pumped," Müller said. "The decision was made before or in-between, so I didn’t need Alphonso’s opinion but it was important for me just to double-check."

Internationally, Müller has likewise had an illustrious career, earning 131 caps for Germany and scoring 45 goals. Müller represented his country at four World Cups and four UEFA Euro tournaments, and in 2014 he was a crucial part of the side that beat Argentina to win the World Cup in Brazil, scoring five goals and winning the Silver Ball as the second-best player of the tournament. He also won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after scoring five goals with three assists.

The native of Weilheim in Oberbayern, Bavaria is one of the most celebrated attacking players in recent footballing history, and is renowned for his ability to play a variety of positions in midfield and attack. A somewhat unorthodox, versatile player, Müller has been described in Germany as a Raumdeuter, which translates to "space interpreter," for his talent in reading the game and participating in build-up play.

Müller will wear the iconic shirt number 13 with the Whitecaps, which he has famously worn for Germany in honour of Gerd Müller.

“Our approach was really only going after the football player Thomas Müller, and not his big name, his brand, his famous face," said Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster. "It was convincing him about our sporting project, where we are with the team, what kind of team we are, having a long conversation with Jesper about how he would fit into this team, how we would use him, where he could help. Even on a very high level, how he would get coached by Jesper, and how he wants to get coached. So we wanted to convince him in the area that excited him the most. He loves this game so much, and he wants to continue because he wants to play the game. Everything else for us came second, and we only started that after he said yes I’m in, this is interesting and I would like to join the team.” 

Schuster added: "On the pitch he is one of the most intelligent players that we have right now in this decade of soccer. He has his own title, and not a lot of players have their own title, with the ramdeuter, for a reason. He understands and reads the game better than ninety-nine percent of the players that I know. So he will help us on the pitch, not only with his own qualities – he's a very good finisher, he’s setting up other players very well, he’s in the final third one of the most dangerous players – but he also is not shy of giving advice, of telling players what to do, of speaking loud on the pitch, and also in the locker room."

The Whitecaps revealed that Müller will be available for the club upon the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate, visa and work permit. He's scheduled to arrive in Vancouver next Wednesday. In order to complete the signing, they acquired Müller's MLS Discovery Priority from FC Cincinnati in exchange for a total of $300,000 in General Allocation Money, with an extra $100,000 in conditional GAM.

Photo courtesy of Vancouver Whitecaps FC.