World Cup 2014: Player profile - Thomas Muller, the Germany midfielder

Counting down the 100 players to look out for in Brazil this summer

Thomas Muller of Germany (Getty Images)

The World Cup in Brazil is coming into view and everyone is hoping this summer's carnival can take its place among some of the great tournaments of the past, but who will be the star of the show?

With 77 days to go until things kick-off, check out our latest instalment of 100 players to look out for at the competition below.

77. Thomas Muller (Germany)

The Bayern Munich midfielder will be eyeing another supremely successful World Cup finals appearance after he finished with the Golden Boot in South Africa, when he first announced himself on the international stage during Germany’s run to the semi-finals contributing five goals and three assists. Having achieved everything there is possible to achieve domestically with the German giants, lifting the trophy at the culmination of this summer’s tournament would add the final gloss to an already glittering career.

At 24, it will certainly not be his last World Cup appearance, but with the pool of talent available to national team coach Joachim Low in June, it may be the best chance he has of adding a World Cup winner’s medal to his growing collection. The current impregnable form of Bayern has coincided with the emergence of several young German stars, and Muller is one of them.

His play making in and around the penalty area coupled with his potent finishing makes him an asset to any side and if Germany are to lift the trophy for the first time 24 years, it may well hinge on his ability alone to score and provide assists to those around him. Any replication of his domestic form in Brazil will certainly see Germany go deep into the latter stages of the knockout phase.  

Did you know? At the 2010 World Cup, Diego Maradona didn’t know who Thomas Muller was. After he opened the scoring in Germany’s 4-0 demolition of Argentina, he soon found out