When talking about the greatest striker in football history people bring up Ronaldo, Henry, Van Basten etc. A name that is rarely talked about however is Gerd Müller. This is a thread on the Bomber's career made for those who might not know him very well.

Gerhard "Gerd" Müller was born in Nördlingen, Bavaria, West Germany in 1945. He loved playing football and in 1958 he joined the youth academy of his boyhood club 1861 Nördlingen.

The boy was a serious player scoring 180 goals in his last season with the youth team. In his only full season with the senior team (1963-1964) he torched the 7th tier of German football scoring 47 goals in 28 games.

Gerd was a fairly short man and wasn't very fast. 2 traits that were synonymous with top players back then. However his acceleration over short distances was deadly. His burst of pace was unmatched and he would beat opponents to the ball 9 times out of 10.

Franz Beckenbauer on Gerd Müller's speed: "His pace was incredible. In training I have played against him and I never had a chance".

Gerd's short legs gave him a low center of gravity which allowed him to turn quickly. He also had tremendous balance that would help him stay on his feet in situations that would cause others to fall over.

Apart from that, Gerd despite his height was very good in the air. He was able to jump way higher than players taller than him. And obviously he was a lethal goalscorer. His finishing was second to none. He is the top goalscorer in the league's history for a reason.

Gerd signed for Bayern in 1964 when the club was still in the 2nd division. In his first season in the Bavarian capital Müller scored 33 in 26 as Bayern won the league and were promoted to the Bundesliga.

During the 1965-66 season, Gerd was an important contributor for the Bavarians scoring 15 goals in 33 Bundesliga games. He also won his first major honour that season as a very talented Bayern team boasting the likes of Beckenbauer, Müller, Maier and Brenninger won the DFB Pokal.

In the 1966-67 season, Müller was immense scoring 43 goals in 45 games in all competitions and becoming the Bundesliga's top scorer (28 goals in 32 games) as Bayern brought home another 2 trophies. The DFB Pokal and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.

The 1967-68 season was underwhelming for Bayern. Müller scored 30 goals in 46 games in all competitions (19 in 34 in the league) but the Bavarian side went trophyless.

The 1968-69 was much better. Bayern won the Double with Gerd reclaiming the title of the league's topscorer after scoring 30 goals in 30 games. He also scored a brace in the cup final as Bayern won against Schalke by 2 goals to 1.

During the 1969-70 season Müller was on another level scoring 38 goals in 33 Bundesliga games for Bayern and 10 in 6 for West Germany in the World Cup.

Gerd Müller's efforts earned him a place in the World Cup Allstar team, the World Cup Golden Shoe, the European Golden Shoe and the 1970 Ballon d'Or .

In the 1970-71 season, Gerd scored 39 goals in 47 games in all competitions and won his 4th Pokal title with 10 of his strikes coming in that cup run.

The season after that was one of his best. He scored 50 goals in all competitions and beat his own record of 38 Bundesliga goals by scoring a cool 40. He won his second European Golden Shoe and Bayern won the Bundesliga.

He also helped Germany win the 1972 Euro. He was the top scorer of the tournament with 4 goals to his name. 2 of those came in the final.

In the 1972-73 season Müller was on another level scoring 66 goals in 49 games in all competitions. Bayern won another league title but despite Gerd's 11 goals in the European Cup they were knocked out in the Quarter-Finals by Ajax.

In the 1973-74 season Bayern won the league for the third time in a row and the European Cup (Bayern's first Champions League title). Müller was the top scorer in both scoring 30 in 34 in the league and 8 in 10 in the European Cup.

After a 1-1 draw, Gerd scored a brace in the replay of the European Cup final as Bayern routed Atletico 4-0 to claim the trophy.

That summer he won the World Cup with West Germany. He scored the winning goal against the Netherlands in the final in Munich. His last goal for his country was the most important one.

The following season Gerd scored 30 goals in 43 games in all competitions as Bayern won their second European Cup. Gerd was the joined top goal scorer and scored in the final.

During the 1975-76 season Bayern won their third European Cup in a row. Müller was a key player scoring 5 goals in 6 games in the EC and 35 in 35 in all competitions.

Gerd also scored against Cruzeiro as Bayern won 2-0 on aggregate and claimed the Intercontinental Cup.

What a special group of players

In the 1976-77 season he kept balling scoring 48 times in 37 games in all competitions but Bayern didn't win anything. An important reason for that was the departure of Franz Beckenbauer.

In the 1977-78 season he won his last Bundesliga top scorer award thanks to his 24 strikes in 33 games.

He played his last game for Bayern in 1979 and moved to America where he retired in 1981.

Sadly after his retirement Gerd suffered from alcoholism. It's said he had depression aswell. Thankfully his former teammates pushed him to stop it. He did and later became the coach of Bayern ll. His boyhood team Nördlingen named their stadium after him.

In 2015, doctors confirmed that he had Alzheimer's.

Gerd's career was unbelieveable. He was the Bundesliga top scorer 7 times, the European Cup top scorer 4 times, the 1970 World Cup's and 1972 Euro top scorer and won the European Golden Shoe twice.

He won 4 Bundesliga titles, 4 Pokal trophies, 3 European Cups, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and the Intercontinental Cup with Bayern along with the World Cup and the European Championship with Germany.

He is both Bayern's and the Bundesliga's (365) all-time top goalscorer. He rightfully earned the nickname "Der Bomber".

He has the 2nd most goals for the German national team (68, Klose is first with 71) and the 3rd most goals in World Cup history (14, only R9 and Klose have more).

Gerhard Müller is without a doubt one of the greatest players in football history. He scored a stupid amount of goals and won everything there is to win. Not putting him among the greatest strikers ever is a capital offense hth.

End of thread. Thanks for reading and have a good day