Müller will not play for Bayern next season. © ANSA / RONALD WITTEK

Eberl explains Müller's departure: "No applause"

Bayern Munich's sporting director Max Eberl has justified the hotly debated decision to sack Thomas Müller with a view to the future direction of the record champions.

06 April 2025

From: dpa

The 51-year-old also admitted that he hadn't acted "smartly" in the process of parting ways with the club legend. "I know we won't get any applause for that," Eberl told TV channel Sport1. Müller "didn't want a traditional contract either." In the football talk show "Doppelpass," Eberl described the path to the decision. It had nothing to do with finances, and the sporting aspect wasn't "the most important thing," Eberl said.

Ultimately, it's about the future of FC Bayern. With a view to squad planning and the team's structure, Müller's departure at the end of the season was unanimously decided by the sporting management, the executive board, and the supervisory board.

Statement from January “not smart”

At the beginning of the year, Eberl sounded different. "He doesn't need to negotiate too much. If he says he wants to continue, then we'll look each other in the eye, look at the squad, and then we'll move forward." That sounded like a carte blanche for the 35-year-old Müller. He was a "legend." The decision had also "hit him deeply," the sporting director said.

Max Eberl is in charge in Munich. © APA/afp / MICHAELA STACHE

"A lot has been built up around that statement, and it's justified. Maybe I wasn't smart enough to say it. But I wasn't smart enough at the time either, because I was just emotional," said Eberl, "because I couldn't imagine a Bundesliga, an FC Bayern without Thomas Müller at that point." Before the conversation with Müller in mid-March, he "slept badly for three days."

The moment always hurts

Müller and FC Bayern announced the end of their collaboration on Saturday. "I think all of Germany loves Thomas Müller," said Sport1 expert Stefan Effenberg, a former Bayern captain. But at some point, a career comes to an end. "That moment is always painful with such football greats."