“I got to know Thomas as extremely ambitious, with an extreme desire to win. With him, it’s like this: if he stays fit, there are few coaches who would do without him,” Nagelsmann said about his player.

The coach officially started his job at Bayern on Wednesday leading his first training session. Nagelsmann was signed to replace 2020 treble winner Hansi Flick, who’s now Germany coach.

The two had a conversation over the phone, but there was no special handover.

“I wanted to see things for myself first. Then I’ll call him again and we’ll talk in detail,” Nagelsmann said.

The coach sees Mueller with “outstanding qualities” and said that for the opponents it’s always difficult to prepare to play against him.

“Because you can’t hold him, because he has this incredible sense of space,” Nagelsmann said of Mueller, who at 31, should still have a place in Bayern’s starting team.

As a child, the coach said he and his brother cried when Bayern lost the Champions League final to Manchester United in 1999 and now hopes to get a trophy himself.

“I saw Hansi Flick’s farewell picture, and it was impressive to see him standing there in black with all the silver and gold trophies around him. I thought to myself, it would be nice if there was one of me like that someday,” Nagelsmann said.