Hoeness: Would have been better if Müller had made decision himself

Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeness admitted that it would have been better if Thomas Müller had decided himself to leave the club.

Instead, the decision came from Bayern as the club announced last week that they would not give the 35-year-old midfielder a new contract once his deal expires this summer.

"It would have been better if he had made the decision and not Bayern," Hoeness told the Blickpunkt Sport TV show on Sunday evening.

"I have seen many great players retire: Günter Netzer, Wolfgang Overath, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller. All of them ended up having a breakdown because they didn't want to accept that they weren't as good as they would have liked to be.

"It's not enough to play four or five games a year for 15 minutes. A contract with Bayern lasts 365 days. The entire club made the decision together. There wasn't a single person on the committees, including the supervisory board, who disagreed," he continued.

Hoeness repeated his previous statement that Müller would be a great fit for Bayern in the next several years in some other role.

"I've never made a secret of the fact that Thomas Müller is one of the players we absolutely have to tie to the club," he said.