Thomas Muller has talked up the possibility of Bayern Munich signing Nathaniel Brown ahead of Arsenal, insisting the left-back has the 'qualities' and 'potential' to play for the German champions.
Brown enjoyed a remarkable breakout season for Eintracht Frankfurt across the 2024/25 Bundesliga campaign, making 25 league appearances to help the club seal Champions League qualification with a third-place finish.
The left-back's outstanding run of form earned him his first senior international call-up last October, with his debut coming in Germany's 4-0 victory over Luxembourg in World Cup qualifying.
In the intervening months, Brown has taken his game to a new level both from an attacking and defensive perspective and it came as no surprise when Julian Nagelsmann named the 22-year-old in his squad for this summer's World Cup.
Needless to say, Brown's performances have not gone unnoticed across European football and a host of top teams have reportedly been monitoring the full-back's situation ahead of the summer transfer window. Arsenal are said to have added Brown to their shortlist of targets at left-back, while the likes of AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City and Bayern also been credited with a strong interest.
Asked if Brown would be a 'suitable' signing for his former club, ex-Bayern star Muller told Sport Bild: 'That always depends on the management and the contract situation – I'm not that familiar with that. As for the price, nobody knows what a monthly package costs. In terms of qualities and potential, definitely!'
Despite the 'brutal' level of competition at Bayern, Muller believes Brown is an 'interesting' proposition given what he has shown over his last two years with Eintracht Frankfurt. 'When you join Bayern as a player, you have brutal competition – but he is a player who is definitely interesting. I think everyone can see that,' he added.
Brown was been keen to keep his cards close to his chest when pressed on his future, determined not to add any fuel to rumours that he could be set for a big-money transfer move away from Eintracht Frankfurt. Asked whether he associates anything in particular with the sum €65.3million (£56.8m) in a recent interview with Sport Bild, Brown replied: 'No idea. It's definitely a lot of money.'
When informed that this was the record fee Chelsea paid for a left-back when they signed Marc Cucurella from Brighton in 2022, Brown responded: 'That's a really staggering sum. But frankly, I'm not thinking about figures like that or a transfer in the summer at all. My focus is entirely on Eintracht Frankfurt and our goal of qualifying for Europe. And then I'd love to be at the World Cup. Then I'll see what happens in the summer. It's hard to plan in football, so I'm not thinking about it.'
Asked if he knew about interest from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal and Manchester City, Brown replied: 'Yes, I'm aware of it, but it doesn't affect me. I'm concentrating on the goals I can control. Nothing else interests me right now.'
Brown put pen to paper on a contract extension with Eintracht early last year, tying him to the club until June 2030. There is no release clause in his current deal at Deutsche Bank Park.
