It was all the way back in 2007 when a young 17-year-old broke into Bayern’s first team and made an immediate impact by setting up two goals for German legend Miroslav Klose. The impressive start to his career as Toni Kroos spiralled up the progress ladder and made most of his limited game time at Bayern Munich.
He was subsequently loaned out to Bayer Leverkusen for eighteen months where he continued to develop and upon returning, took on the mantle as the chief midfield creator for Bayern and led the club to great success including Heynckes’ treble-winning team of 2012-13.
Unfortunately, things fell through between the player and the club in the future and Real Madrid swooped in and lured him away to Santiago Bernabeu. He is now into his fourth year at the club and has developed into not only an integral cog in the team but into one of the finest midfielders in the world at Real Madrid.
Real Madrid already has a host of midfield talent in their squad in the form of Marco Asensio, Isco, Luka Modric, Dani Ceballos, Toni Kroos, Casemiro and Mateo Kovacic who can all play through the centre. Asensio and Isco are supposedly the future of the club and Kroos and Casemiro form the crux of the current team and are expected to be the backbone of the midfield for the coming years. With Modric at the dusk of his career and Ceballos unable to settle in, Kroos is set to continue a vital member at the Bernabeu over the years.
However, Manchester City is planning to destabilize the Madrid midfield by offering a bid for Kroos. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team has displayed tremendous form since the start of the season and is seemingly looking like the best side not just in England but in Europe at the moment.
After spending a fortune in the transfer market, Pep finally has a squad of players he likes and is delivering on his promise of providing relentless, attacking football at the Etihad this season. A quick look through the City squad will pop up the names of players like Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne and many more.
The Citizens have a host of attacking talent but lack of depth in the deeper midfield position. Yaya Toure is reaching the twilight of his career which leaves Fernandinho and injury-prone Ilkay Gundogan as the only players who can play in the holding midfield role.
With Pep known to be a manager who likes to rotate his side for matches, he could do with a player of Kroos’ calibre and versatility in the team. The German has all the assets required to play for a Pep Guardiola team and his driving midfield runs could prove to be an added threat for oppositions facing Manchester City.
