So, Thomas Muller has been the talk of the town this summer! The legendary Bayern Munich forward is getting ready to kick off a new adventure with the Vancouver Whitecaps in Major League Soccer. Muller is wrapping up an impressive career at Bayern, where he made over 750 appearances and racked up numerous honors, including two Champions League titles.
Now, he’s ready to share his experience and soccer smarts in MLS. It looks like Vancouver is close to wrapping up the final agreement for his discovery rights, which means he should be able to join the team soon, even with all the tricky MLS roster rules in play. However, there’s this really exciting statistic hanging around with this move.
On X, reporter Ben Steiner shared some info about it. He mentioned, “According to our Sports Illustrated team in Germany, Thomas Muller’s Whitecaps salary structure is as follows. 2025 (TAM): $687,000. 2026 (DP): $7.5 million. Whitecaps could become top 5 in total salary in MLS for 2026.” This setup shows how the strategy works for bringing a global star into the MLS while sticking to the rules.
So, by putting Muller under TAM for 2025, Vancouver gets around the issue of having just three DP slots, which are already taken up by big names like Ryan Gauld and Andres Cubas. This way, they’re all set to boost him to marquee status the next year. The nearly $7.5 million deal really shows how highly Muller is valued in North America, and it also highlights Vancouver’s desire to go head-to-head with the biggest spenders in MLS.
Muller’s financial outlay puts him among the highest-paid players in MLS history, right up there with Lionel Messi, who is said to earn over $20 million. Having Muller on the team could really help the Whitecaps climb the Western Conference standings and also enhance their international presence and commercial attractiveness.
According to our Sports Illustrated team in Germany, Thomas Müller’s Whitecaps salary structure is as follows.
2025 (TAM): $687,000
2026 (DP): $7.5 million
Whitecaps could become top 5 in total salary in MLS for 2026.https://t.co/eOf1Q87HNY
— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) July 30, 2025
With MLS growing, it’s interesting to see how clubs are getting creative with their salary strategies to bring in big-name players while still keeping an eye on the budget.
This is a developing report…
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