The best 30 players at the World Cup
By James Dudko
11. Thomas Muller, forward, Germany
For all of Germany’s seemingly endless production of emerging talent during the last decade, Thomas Muller remains an essential ever-present for his country.
The 28-year-old’s versatility and scoring touch never go out of fashion at the highest level. Muller has made this level his own, with 10 goals to his credit across the last two tournaments.
His consistently high levels of performance and production are somewhat surprising since Muller is not outstanding in any one area. He is not the strongest or the quickest, nor is he the most skillful.
What Muller does have on his side is supreme intelligence and versatility. He has a knack for reading the game and anticipating where the weak spots in a defense will be.
The ability to play both wide and through the middle makes him the ideal roving link man for a squad built on movement from the flanks.
Putting Muller’s core traits at the service of Reus, Sane, Ozil and Kroos means Germany have the strongest possible case to retain the trophy.