Rohl is comparing Naderi to Müller again. Is this guy stupid, or what?

Danny Röhl has compared Ryan Naderi to Thomas Müller again, and honestly, I do wonder who benefits from this stuff. Because it certainly does not benefit Naderi.

It does not benefit Röhl either.

It does not benefit the Ibrox club, except in the very short-term sense that it gives supporters something daft to get excited about before reality starts kicking the door in again.

If you are going to compare one of your players to Thomas Müller, you had better be able to back it up. Not with vibes. Not with “he occupies spaces.” Not with that modern coaching language that sounds profound until you realise it could mean almost anything.

You need evidence. You need output. You need a career path that at least makes the comparison faintly credible.

Ryan Naderi is 22. He joined the Ibrox club from Hansa Rostock in February 2026, having previously played for Borussia Mönchengladbach II and Hansa Rostock. FotMob lists his senior career before Ibrox as 52 games and 10 goals for Gladbach II, then 42 games and 13 goals for Hansa Rostock.

For the record, this is Germany’s 3. Liga and the Scottish Premiership.

That is his career path. But it is not Thomas Müller’s career path.

At 22, Müller had already broken through at Bayern Munich, become a first-team regular, won the Bundesliga and German Cup, played in a Champions League final, won the 2010 World Cup Golden Boot, and been named Best Young Player at the tournament.

By the 2012-13 season, when he was still only 23, he scored 23 goals in all competitions as Bayern won the treble. That is the difference.

That’s the comparison this clown is reaching for.

One player had already announced himself on the biggest stages in world football. The other has arrived at Ibrox and is still trying to prove he can make a consistent impact in the SPFL.

That does not mean Naderi cannot be a good player. It does not mean he cannot improve. It does not mean he cannot have a useful career.

But a world-class footballer does not usually arrive at that level via a country’s third tier and the Scottish Premiership at 22. Sometimes late bloomers happen, of course. Football is full of strange career arcs. But if you are making a comparison with one of the most decorated German footballers in history, the burden of proof sits with you.

Röhl is the one making the comparison. So Röhl has to justify it.

The numbers do not do much for him. FotMob has Naderi’s 2025-26 Premiership record at one goal and one assist in 459 league minutes, with an average rating of 6.53. His most recent match list shows the league goal came in a 4-2 win over Dundee United and the assist came in a 4-1 win over Aberdeen.

That is not brilliant. It is certainly not Thomas Müller; it is not even Thomas Müller after a heavy lunch trying to run on his current legs.

Bayern’s own website lists Müller’s Bayern career as 756 competitive appearances, 250 goals and 223 assists, with 13 Bundesliga titles and two Champions League wins among his honours. It also notes that he holds the record for most Champions League appearances for one club. So, when Röhl makes this comparison, what exactly is he trying to achieve?

If it is encouragement, there are better ways to encourage a young player. If it is confidence-building, fine, do it privately and realistically.

Tell the boy he has intelligent movement. Tell him he finds spaces well. Tell him he has qualities that remind you of certain German forwards. But once you say it publicly, you invite comparison. You invite ridicule. You invite people to look at the numbers and ask whether everyone involved has lost the run of themselves.

And that is where this becomes unfair on Naderi.

Because the player himself has enough to deal with. He arrived for a major fee from Hansa Rostock, with BILD describing his transfer as a record for Germany’s 3. Liga and for Hansa, and even in that early coverage Röhl admitted the player would need time to adapt to the new league. That was sensible. That was reasonable.

That was the kind of thing managers should say.

“He has potential. He has qualities. He will need time.”

There. Done. Nobody laughs at that. Nobody writes an article pointing out that Thomas Müller had already won half the planet by this age. Nobody starts comparing a striker with one league goal at Ibrox to a Bayern Munich and Germany icon.

But Röhl opened that door. Again.

The comparison is especially odd because Müller was never simply a striker.

His whole genius was his intelligence, timing, movement, pressing, chance creation and ability to connect play.

He was famously described as a “Raumdeuter”, an interpreter of space. His game was built around seeing what others missed and arriving where the damage could be done.

If Röhl means that Naderi sometimes finds clever spaces, say that. If he means Naderi has unusual movement, say that. If he means he can drift into awkward positions for defenders, say that. But do not invoke Thomas Müller unless you want everyone to start measuring the boy against Thomas Müller.

Because that is where this becomes ludicrous.

At 22, Naderi is a promising, physically imposing forward trying to establish himself in Scotland after playing in Germany’s lower divisions. At 22, Müller was already a global name, already a World Cup Golden Boot winner, already a Champions League finalist, already central to Bayern Munich’s first team.

This is the kind of comparison that only creates unnecessary pressure. And laughter. It tells Ibrox fans to expect something extraordinary, then leaves the player exposed when he produces something that falls far short of that.

One goal and one assist in league football is not a disaster. But it is not the foundation for grand comparisons either.

This is a habit at Ibrox.

Every new player has to be talked into something bigger than he is. Every signing has to be a statement. Every young footballer is the next somebody. Every decent performance is the beginning of a legend. Then reality comes along, as it always does, and everyone acts wounded when the player turns out to be just another footballer.

Röhl should know better.

He is supposed to be the adult in the room. He is supposed to manage expectations, not inflate them. He is supposed to protect his players, not hand critics a baseball bat and a target painted on the back of the shirt.

If Naderi turns into a good SPFL striker, that would be useful for them. If he becomes a consistent scorer, that would be a success. If he develops into someone who can lead the line, occupy defenders and make a proper contribution, then fair play to him.

But Thomas Müller?

Come on. It’s a comparison so out there that it’s idiotic.

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