'Now I'm rapping and yodelling!' - Thomas Muller loving life in Canada but Vancouver Whitecaps star admits he's 'too lazy' to learn English

Muller’s move to Major League Soccer was always going to be box office. The forward, who spent 25 glorious years at Bayern Munich, swapped the pressure cooker of the Allianz Arena for the scenic vistas of British Columbia in August. While his debut season ended in heartbreak with a 3-1 defeat to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in the MLS Cup final earlier this month, the 36-year-old insists he is loving every minute of his Canadian adventure - even if his linguistic development has hit a standstill.

Muller reflected on his transition from the Bundesliga to MLS, offering a glimpse into the unique cultural melting pot of the Whitecaps dressing room and his own eccentric adaptation methods.

While Muller’s on-pitch integration has been seamless - scoring nine goals and providing four assists in just 13 appearances - his academic pursuits off the pitch have been less successful. The forward, whose English has always been functional but heavily accented with his native Bavarian twang, admitted that he arrived in Canada with high hopes of polishing his language skills to a near-native level.

"Honestly, I find myself despairing at the same things as I do at home," Muller confessed in the interview. "For example, I had firmly intended to actively work on my English skills with an app. I wanted to make an effort to get better quickly.

"In the end, I caught myself letting the days rush by. I even had enough time, but I am simply too lazy to use the app."

Fans of Muller will not be surprised to hear that a lack of perfect grammar has done little to silence him. Throughout his career, he has been known as "Radio Muller" for his constant on-pitch communication and off-pitch humour. He insists that his "lazy" approach to formal learning hasn't stopped him from being a vocal leader in the Whitecaps dressing room.

"I would put it this way: I don't hold back with stupid remarks even in English," he laughed. "And garnished with grammatical blunders, they are certainly even a bit stranger than at home."

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Muller painted a vivid picture of the atmosphere within the Vancouver camp. Known for his ability to connect with diverse groups of players, he described his role in the squad with typically colourful imagery, revealing a cultural exchange that has seen him trading verses with his younger teammates.

Insisting he "didn't consider it likely" that he would struggle to settle into his new surroundings, he added: "National coach Julian Nagelsmann had once said, 'I can handle 'the rappers and the yodellers.' Now I'm rapping and yodelling in Canada."

On his life in Canada, he added: "There are moments when I enjoy this kind of freedom. But sometimes I also think: I'd like to be in that Bayern bubble now, in that absolute pressure situation; I really enjoyed that for years. [I have] a bit more time to reflect in Canada because I'm not being pulled in so many directions at once like I was in Germany."

Muller signed for the Whitecaps on a short-term deal that included an option to extend for the entirety of the 2026 campaign. Having tasted defeat in the final to Inter Miami, the 36-year-old is fired up to return next year with the aim of guiding his side to the title.

Having recently grown a full beard, he says he is feeling adventurous ahead of the new challenge. And now he sports a full beard. "[The beard] happened rather by chance. But the feedback was so positive that I kept it." He says he associates his facial hair "definitely with this completely new chapter in my career. And if people say it looks adventurous, then that's fine with me."