With the summer only just over and with the transfer window shutting just two weeks ago, any transfer speculation is, at this point, just posturing. Either that or complete conjecture. Nothing can be taken as truthfulness right now, but that doesn’t mean there is no truth to the stories that come out.

One such report that emerged last week regarded the future of Thomas Muller, with Arsenal and Chelsea said to be monitoring his situation. Not an automatic starter under Carlo Ancelotti, despite being recognised one of the world’s best players, the German international is unlikely happy at the moment. Nor does he seem part of a particularly happy Bayern camp. Beaten last weekend by Hoffenheim, and not looking overly impressive in their 3-0 victory over ten-man Anderlecht in their first Champions League game, Bayern are in danger or suffering something of a crisis.

But – as with all transfer stories which see the light of day in mid-September – you wonder how much it has to do with the player actually wanting to move, how much said clubs are actually interested and how much it might be a tactic to affect some sort of change at the club. Bayern, under Carlo Ancelotti, haven’t looked like the imperious side that Pep Guardiola took to the Champions League semi-finals in consecutive seasons.

They’ve lacked an intensity, and everyone can see that. But after Guardiola’s reign, there was a conscious decision to appoint a manager who would lower the tone somewhat, taking away some of the stress and allowing the players more of a free reign. Under the Italian, that atmosphere makes for a happier camp of top players, as Ancelotti’s laid-back style allows the world’s best players to be themselves. And there’s a reason why they’re so good. The problem is, Bayern could be doing with more from their leader. They are a team who should simply walk their domestic league and have no real rivals at this point. And that means they need someone to help them keep their level up.

That’s not the only problem coming out of the camp. This week, Robert Lewandowski has made comments to the media concerning a number of things that may well be above the station of a player. His remarks concerning the club’s transfer policy were the most widely-reported, but perhaps most revealing is his take on the club’s commercial policies and the need to win over fans around the world.

“Who is the target fan of a club? Do they live in Munich or in Asia or in America?” asked Lewandowski,  in a recent edition of Spiegel, and probably millions of other football fans, too.

For Bayern specifically, though, all of this speaks to a notion of a club stuck between identities. The fact that players are speaking out about it hints that it’s something beyond just a passing curiosity, and something which may, in the end, make Muller’s exit from the club more likely than might previously have been thought.

This is a club who are currently stuck between two stools. Right now, they are in between two styles, trying not to hark back to the intensity of Guardiola, but also trying to fight the inertia of Ancelotti which goes too far in the other direction. There’s also a feeling that the entire Ancelotti era is simply a limbo between two managers, and that his eventual departure will come sooner rather than later. Then there are two identities off the pitch, too, as Lewandowski alludes to: Bayern carry the name of their region, but who do they now represent?

Thomas Muller is a Bavarian boy. He hasn’t played football outside of the region, and it can’t just be Lewandowski who is thinking about the club’s identity. Surely Muller must see the problem, too, even if there’s no suggestion that he actually agrees with his teammate on the commercial aspects.

That’s the what and the why, of course. When it comes to whether there’s a chance that a transfer could happen, there’s one more pivotal question: where?

The two Premier League clubs Chelsea and Arsenal were mentioned, and, depending on where they finish in the league this season, each of those destinations could, in theory, be possible. The report discusses a potential January move but Champions League football would likely be a must and no team in England can guarantee that mid-season, such is the competitiveness of the league – making a summer switch the more plausible scenario.

And so all will likely rest on what happens over the coming months, and not just on which English clubs will finish in the top four. Will Bayern Munich continue to be less Bayern and more worldwide? Will Ancelotti turn his seemingly flailing squad around in a way that Muller and friends decide is fitting enough of their club? Will the club move more and more into worldwide commercial business mode (surely no elite club can stop pushing commercial interests, especially with the Premier League’s riches)? And despite all that, will the club even just insist that he stays anyway, even if he did want to go?

And then, given he’s never called anywhere outside of Bavaria home, is there any guarantee that Muller could even thrive outside of his comfort zone at the Allianz Arena?

In the end, any speculation taking place just after a transfer window has ended is usually the kind to take with a pinch of salt. And indeed, Muller’s current situation could change very quickly. But it’s still one worth keeping an eye on.