(Football news) In a recent interview, Toni Kroos' agent said that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez believed that the German was Real Madrid's signing of the century. Let's roll it back a little to 2014 when Kroos was at Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich.
Toni Kroos who graduated from Bayern's academy had established himself in the first team after an incredibly successful loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen. Bayern had offered Toni Kroos a long term contract. The player was not happy with the financial terms of the renewal but the club's stance was very firm. Pep Guardiola tried his level best to make Kroos stay at the club but to no avail. Kroos decided to leave Bayern and his agent started to hold talks with clubs as several were interested. The German midfielder liked the offer from Manchester United and decided to sign for them. The deal was practically agreed and the only thing missing was Kroos' signature. David Moyes played a very important role in convincing Kroos to come to Manchester.
The deal collapsed in April 2014 when Moyes was sacked. Kroos went on to play for his national team at the 2014 World Cup where he was arguably the best player in the entire tournament as Germany lifted the trophy. Real Madrid secured the signature of Toni Kroos for a transfer fee of just €25m and the rest is history. The German cost Real Madrid 1/3rd of what they bought James Rodriguez for which goes on to show what a steal he was.
Also read: Will Antonio Rudiger be a good fit for Real Madrid next season?
Toni Kroos has been at the center of Real Madrid's success over the last 7 years which includes a hat trick of Champions leagues. Now at the age of 31, Kroos has already hung up his international boots to concentrate on Real Madrid. His current Real Madrid deal ends in June 2022. At the time of renewal, Kroos had said that this will be his last long term contract at any club as he doesn't desire to play for much longer after the contract ends.
Current reports suggest that Real Madrid are currently planning to offer him a contract till 2023. Kroos has always said that he would like to retire at Real Madrid and if reports are to be believed he will extend his stay as a player till 2023 and will retire at the age of 35 and continue working with the club in another role.
Real Madrid have had some stellar signings over the years. The signing of Alfredo Di Stefano after Barcelona rejected his services is one of the first ones. Then came the Galatico era where signing Luis Figo directly from Barcelona was a statement. Signings of Ronaldo Nazario, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham all had a big impact for the club but came at a hefty price.
Real Madrid paid a then record €94 million for Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese is the obvious choice for signing of the century but in terms of minimum input and maximum output it is extremely difficult to look past Toni Kroos. There are signings of Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and Raphael Varane who had an immense impact at Real Madrid and also didn't cost Madrid a lot of money but the three were particularly young when they joined Los Blancos and there is always a certain risk attached to signing youngsters.
Toni Kroos was an established player at one of the biggest clubs in europe. He had just won the World Cup after a fantastic individual tournament. To secure his signing for just €25m is somewhat close to daylight robbery which Bayern would regret to this day.
