Thomas Muellar

In a tournament where several of the unknown shined, FIFA selected their three stand out young performers of these finals and it was a German who continued a legacy of German prodigy’s shining at the World Cup. Thomas Mueller, winner of the FIFA Golden Boot, was rewarded with the 2010 FIFA Best Young Player award following on from Lukas Podolski who won the very first four years ago at Germany 2006.

Thomas Mueller, 20, would have almost certainly been in the reckoning for the player of the tournament were it not for his age, although we see little reason why he shouldn’t have been up for both awards. However, he was rightly voted the most promising player of these finals ahead of Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan and Mexico’s Giovanni Dos Santos and will now head back to Germany with his club Bayern Munich baring two of the biggest accolades any player could ever wish to win. And my word didn’t he deserve this award. Two of Germany’s more high profile wins at these finals were over England (4-1) and Argentina (4-0) and it was Mueller who was instrumental in dismantling two of football’s giant nations. He scored twice as Germany knocked the English out, and another against Argentina before finishing off with the third place play-off’s opening goal. He was one of the more outstanding performers in South Africa, with his menacing runs often no match for defenders, and will now be a hot property when the transfer market opens.

Thomas Mueller World Cup Statistics:

Games Played: 6
Minutes Player: 473
Goals: 5
Assists: 3
Shots: 13
Shot on Target: 5
Passes: 241 (61% pass completion rate)