The German footballer THOMAS MULLER

In February 2009, Müller signed his first contract for the senior team, a two-year deal effective from the 2009–10 season, along with reserve team-mate Holger Badstuber. He was prepared to be loaned or even transferred away to find first-team football, but when Louis van Gaal was appointed manager, both players became fixtures in the Bayern first team from the start of the season. In the first few matches Müller was a regular substitute, and on 12 September 2009, he was brought on against Borussia Dortmund and scored two goals in a 5–1 victory.Three days later, he scored another brace in a 3–0 Champions League victory over Maccabi Haifa. He rounded off September by being named the Bundesliga player of the month and earned praise from his namesake, legendary former Bayern and Germany striker Gerd Müller. After the Haifa match, Müller was in the starting eleven for almost every match, only missing one match – a Champions League match against Bordeaux, for which he was suspended,because he was sent off in an earlier match against the same team.

In February 2010, Müller signed a new contract with Bayern Munich through 2013. During the second half of the season, Müller continued to be a regular first-team starter, usually playing in a central striking role due to the availability of other wide players Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben. In April 2010, he scored the second goal in a 2–1 win against title rivals Schalke 04, and in the penultimate league match of the season, he scored the first hat-trick of his career, in a 3–1 win over Bochum which effectively secured the German title for Bayern. The title was confirmed a week later with a 3–1 win at Hertha BSC, a match which Müller started. For the season he played in all 34 Bundesliga matches, starting 29, and recorded 13 goals and 11 assists. Bayern and Müller were back in Berlin the following week, to face Werder Bremen in the final of the DFB-Pokal. Müller started the match and Bayern won 4–0 to complete the domestic double. Müller scored four goals and made two assists during the competition, which made him its leading scorer for the season. Bayerns season ended in pursuit of a first treble, in the 2010 Champions League Final against Internazionale at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid. It was not to be, however, as they lost 2–0, with both goals coming from Diego Milito. Müller was in the starting line-up and had a key chance just after half-time, with Bayern 1–0 down, but his shot was saved by Júlio César. Müller felt particularly disappointed by this defeat, but he ended his first season as a first-team player with 52 matches played and 19 goals in all competitions. In a poll conducted by the sports magazine kicker, he was voted by his fellow professionals as the best newcomer of the 2009–10 season and was named in the Bundesliga team of the season. Müller credits Van Gaal for having had the biggest part to play in his rise to success – the coach arrived with a reputation for promoting youth team players, particularly at Ajax, and consistently gave Müller his chance in the first-team, going as far to say "Müller spielt bei mir immer" (with me, Müller will always play). Müller, in return, described Van Gaal as "a genius technician", who makes players "improve every time".

Müller began the 2013–14 season by scoring in seven of Bayerns 12 pre-season games. On 5 August, Müller scored a hat-trick as Bayern won 5–0 in the teams 2013–14 DFB-Pokal first round game against Schwarz-Weiß Rehden. In Bayerns opening 2013–14 Bundesliga fixture, Müller missed a penalty for the first time. Seconds later, the save from the penalty flicked the hand of Álvaro Domínguez which resulted in another penalty which David Alaba converted. After this Müller stated "I am still happy to take penalties, but I think David Alaba is the main man for spot kicks for now." On 25 September, against Hannover 96 in the second round of the DFB-Pokal, Müller scored twice taking his cup tally to five goals in just two games. On 28 September, Müller scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over VfL Wolfsburg, giving him his first goal in the 2013–14 Bundesliga. Müller scored his first 2013–14 UEFA Champions League goal of the campaign and Bayern defeated Manchester City 3–1 at the City of Manchester Stadium on 2 October.

On 17 May 2014, Müller scored Bayerns second goal in a 2–0 extra-time defeat of Borussia Dortmund in the 2014 DFB-Pokal Final, giving die Roten the tenth league and cup double in their history.Müller finished as the tournaments top scorer with eight goals in five appearances.

In June 2014, he signed a new contract keeping him at Bayern until 2019.

Müller represented Germany at various youth levels, starting with the under-16s in 2004. In August 2009, he was called up to the under-21 team for his debut in a 3–1 friendly defeat against Turkey. He earned six caps for the under-21s and scored one goal, the eighth in an 11–0 thrashing of San Marino.

In October of the same year, Müllers regular appearances for Bayerns first team caused German national team manager Joachim Löw to publicly consider him for a call-up,despite initial reluctance from the Bayern Munich board; the following month, Müller was named in the squad for a friendly against Côte dIvoire. However, this coincided with the death of national team goalkeeper Robert Enke, which led to the cancellation of a match against Chile the same week. With less opportunity to try out new players, and with the under-21 team facing crucial qualifiers for the 2011 European Championship, Löw and under-21 manager Rainer Adrion felt that Müller was needed at the under-21 level, and Müller was called back into the under-21s.

He was back in the senior squad for its next get-together, a training session in Sindelfingen in January 2010, and was named in the squad for the following match, a friendly against Argentina in March. He made his debut in this game in the starting eleven at the Allianz Arena, his home stadium. He was substituted in the 66th minute for fellow debutant Toni Kroos as Germany lost 1–0.

Müller was named in Germanys provisional 27-man squad for the 2010 World Cup along with seven other Bayern Munich players. Despite suffering a scare when he fell off his bicycle at the teams training camp in South Tyrol, Müller only received superficial injuries and made the final cut for the tournament when the squad was reduced to 23 players. He was allocated the number 13, normally worn by injured captain Michael Ballack, and previously worn by Müllers namesake Gerd. He earned his second international cap in the final warm-up match before the World Cup when he came on as a half-time substitute for Piotr Trochowski in a 3–1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. He started the first game of Germanys World Cup campaign and scored the third goal – his first internationally – in a 4–0 win over Australia, winning Germanys goal of the month award in the process. He played in all Germanys group games, as they finished top of Group D; he scored twice and assisted once in the 4–1 victory over England in the round of 16. In the third minute of Germanys 4–0 quarter final win against Argentina, he opened the scoring with his fourth tournament goal. However, he picked up his second booking of the tournament in the first half, for a handball and was suspended for the semi-final defeat against Spain. Müller said that he felt far more nervous during the Spain game than any he was able to play. He returned to the team for the third-place playoff against Uruguay and scored the first goal, his fifth of the tournament, as Germany won 3–2 to take the bronze medals. The teams success was a culmination of a series of changes made after the national teams failure at Euro 2000. The Germans emphasized a more open, attack-minded style not previously associated with Germany, and included prominent young players, including Müller, Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil.

With five goals Müller ended as joint top goalscorer of the tournament. He earned the Golden Boot with these goals and his three assists. He also won the Best Young Player Award over fellow nominees André Ayew of Ghana and Giovani dos Santos of Mexico. For both awards, he succeeded a German team-mate, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski, respectively, from 2006.

In October 2010, he was named on the shortlist for the FIFA Ballon dOr award along with four of his Germany team-mates. Reflecting on his World Cup success, Müller said "I basically got lucky, I hit form at just the right time".

Müller started all ten of Germanys qualifiers for Euro 2012, as the team qualified for the finals with a 100% record. Müller provided assists for seven goals, three of which came in a 6–2 win over Austria in September 2011 which secured Germanys qualification for the finals with two games to spare. He scored three times in the campaign, two goals coming in a 4–0 win over Kazakhstan in March 2011, the third in a 3–1 win over Turkey in October of the same year.

Müller scored his first World Cup qualifying goals on 22 March 2013, scoring Germanys opener and final goal in a 3–0 away win over Kazakhstan. He also scored in the 3–0 victories over Austria and Faroe Islands to give him four goals in Germanys successful qualification campaign.

On 16 June 2014, in Germanys opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Müller scored the first hat-trick of the tournament in a 4–0 win against Portugal. In addition, he was also the target of Pepes headbutt in the 37th minute, which resulted in the Portuguese defender being sent off. He was named the man of the match in this game.

• Bundesliga: 2009–10, 2012–13, 2013–14

• DFB-Pokal: 2009–10, 2012–13, 2013–14

• DFL-Supercup: 2010, 2012

• UEFA Champions League: 2012–13 Runner Up: 2009–10, 2011–12

• UEFA Super Cup: 2013

• FIFA Club World Cup: 2013

• FIFA World Cup Third place: 2010

• FIFA World Cup 2010 Man of the Match: vs. England, vs. Uruguay

• FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 2010

• FIFA World Cup 2010 Most assists (3, shared with Mesut Özil, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Kaká, and Dirk Kuyt)

• FIFA World Cup Best Young Player: 2010

• Bayerischer Sportpreis: 2010

• Silbernes Lorbeerblatt: 2010

• VdV Newcomer of the Year: 2010

• World Soccer Young Player of the Year: 2010

• Bravo Award: 2010

• FIFA Ballon dOr: 15th place 2010, 13th place 2011, 17th place 2013

• ESM Team of the Year: 2012–13

• UEFA Best Player in Europe Award 2013 (6th place)

• FIFA World Cup 2014 Man of the Match: vs. Portugal