Whitecaps’ Thomas Müller is China’s third-most popular soccer star

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It’s as we entered the German-language part of the Thomas Müller press conference Thursday that it hit me: this is clearly a big on-field deal for the Vancouver Whitecaps, but it’s also a big massive international marketing deal, too.

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As a player, Müller is as big a deal as any signing by any team in this city, ever. The Whitecaps put on a big show for the media and their key sponsor, Telus, hosted the German international’s media debut at the Telus Garden building downtown.

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The room was packed and not just by happy smiling faces from the club and the sponsor, which is always the case at these kinds of pressers, but also with a swath of local and German journalists.

Rarely has Vancouver seen a player reveal like this. The Canucks haven’t had one like this in years; the buzz around Mats Sundin’s arrival in 2009 was perhaps the last time there was this much broad interest in a stand-alone signing.

The Whitecaps are certainly leading the local discussion for the moment. But it’s those questions in German that are key.

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Fifteen years ago, then-CEO Paul Barber talked about wanting to make the Whitecaps into one of the world’s top 25 clubs. It was a statement about mentality, not so much literal rankings. Think one of the best in the world, no matter your size.

In a German media interview, Axel Schuster last week compared his club status within MLS to that of Freiburg in the Bundesliga, a club that’s not high in the financial table but high in the on-field success rankings. A team that punches above its weight. Freiburg may not have a long record of high-profile success, but it draws from a big metro region, similar to Vancouver’s, and after a period of smart, high-impact decisions, now finds itself as one of the more prominent clubs in Germany.

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That’s the forward-looking mentality he’s looked to instil in the organization that he’s led now for almost six years. That effort to push the organization in how it sees itself and presents itself — somewhat in line with Barber’s original goal, —seems to be bearing fruit.

Müller, of course, brings a ton to the field. And that was the main purpose of this signing, no doubt of that. Under Schuster and head coach Jesper Sorensen, the Caps have built one of Major League Soccer’s most energetic and entertaining teams. But they still needed another player or two to buttress their efforts to win it all.

Müller should raise their game even more, even if it takes some time for him to adjust to how his team plays ,as well as how the game is played around him. He noted that at one point in answer to a question from a German reporter. His whole career to this point has been in familiar circumstances: he’s known not just his teammates inside and out, he’s knows the tendencies of all his opponents and all the opposing teams.

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It’s now a blank slate here for him. Since he agreed terms with the ‘Caps two weeks ago, he’s been on a crash course learning about how his teammates play, how the upcoming opposition play, how he can best deploy his Raumdeuter instincts in his new environment.

On the business end of things, the Whitecaps find themselves in new territory. It helps that Muller appears to be a bit of a unicorn: a pro athlete who is very self-aware, who isn’t shy about showing his personality, about showing how he really is. He loves football. But he also loves to ham it up for the camera. He loves golf. He loves horses. His social media presence is among the world’s best. He has his own website, his own fan-focused email newsletter.

He has the natural instincts of a salesman. The Whitecaps have lucked out in this regard.

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They suddenly are a name that fans in Germany will know. They are now the club that a national legend plays for. A guy who is going to put their image everywhere.

In the minds of many German fans, Müller hasn’t just gone to Canada. He’s gone to the Whitecaps. Schuster said during the press conference that jersey sales have surged. No doubt a portion of that is from new German fans.

But another twist here, one that is perhaps unexpected: Müller’s fandom is in China, too. According to Müller’s agency, by social media metrics, he’s the No. 3 player in China, behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

That’s a massive deal. The Whitecaps are also going to have visibility in the biggest market there is.

Change comes slowly, then quickly, it’s said. The Whitecaps are about the enter the quick part. They can build quite the future for themselves if they keep hitting their marks.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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