Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Thomas Muller 'lives and breathes Bayern Munich' - Philipp Lahm

Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm is pleased that Thomas Muller will be staying at the club despite being tracked by Manchester United.

Muller, 25, has been linked with a switch to Old Trafford throughout the summer, with some reports suggesting that United lodged a €85 million bid for the Germany international.

Lahm told Munchener Merkur: "Thomas is one of those role models you can't just attach a price tag to. He lives and breathes Bayern Munich. He is a very, very important player for us."

Bayern have been consistent in turning down all approaches for one of their key players, and have insisted that they will not sell anyone else to United after Bastian Schweinsteiger moved to Manchester.

And during Bayern's tour of China in July, club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge called the alleged interest "a duck drowning in the Pacific," and both the chairman and sporting executive Matthias Sammer reiterated that Muller "is a player who has no price tag."

Lahm, Muller, Holger Badstuber and Austria international David Alaba are the last four players currently in the Bayern squad to have come through the youth academy. 

Lahm also elaborated on the ongoing discussion about whether Bayern could lose their German mentality and identity under the Pep Guardiola regime.

"Nobody has to fear that we at FC Bayern lose our identity. Just look at this team," Lahm said. "We have Thomas Muller, Holger Badstuber, David Alaba and me, we all came through the ranks. We also have Manuel Neuer, Franck Ribery, and Arjen Robben. They have been here for so long that there heart beats red."

Over the past 12 months, there have been discussions over Bayern's direction under current coach Pep Guardiola.

Last year, when replacing Toni Kroos with Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso, the club came under fire for slowly turning into an "FC Bayern Espanol." At that time, Rummenigge hit back and said: ""The quality of a player matters for FC Bayern, not the nationality." He vowed to not change the club's transfer policy.

Former Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has also been critical, expressing his concerns that more Spanish than German was spoken in the Bayern camp, warning: "You have to take account of the German mentality."

Guardiola responded by pointing out there are more Germans in his XI now than under Hitzfeld in the 2001 Champions League final.

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