Toni Kroos: a world-class midfielder, made in the Bundesliga
Toni Kroos established himself as one of the best midfielders on the planet during his time at Real Madrid, but it all started for the serial UEFA Champions League victor and 2014 FIFA World Cup winner back home in the Bundesliga.
“For me, Kroos is the axle in the Madrid team. I see a lot of myself in him. He’s like my successor on the field.”
When you’ve been likened to Spain's World Cup and UEFA European Championship-winning midfielder Xavi Hernández by the man himself no less, you know you’re doing something right.
Former Bayern Munich midfielder Kroos is undoubtedly one of the best midfielders the game has ever seen. He has previously been dubbed by Spanish publication Marca as “a one-man orchestra”, while Germany coach Joachim Löw lauded the “symmetry and balance” he brings to a side. Former Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane called him the “perfect” player.
Watch: Toni Kroos: Made in the Bundesliga
Following Germany's Euro 2024 quarter-final defeat to Spain, Kroos has called time on his career at 34 with the sort of honours list that most clubs - never mind individual players - would be proud of: three Bundesliga and DFB Cups, six Champions League winner's medals - one in Bayern's historic treble-winning side of 2012/13 - four La Liga titles, and the 2014 World Cup with Germany. It is evidence of the talent that keen German football observers spotted early on.
He was considered a Jahrhunderttalent – “a talent of the century” – when Bayern plucked him from the youth ranks of Hansa Rostock in summer 2006. Just over a year later, he had already made his Bundesliga debut under Ottmar Hitzfeld as a 17-year-old, making the leap almost a year before Thomas Müller, despite being four months his junior.
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In terms of ability and mental strength, Kroos was evidently ready for top-flight football in Germany but, having given him an initial taste, Hitzfeld made sure not to overwhelm the youngster. Instead, he was drip fed a steady stream of appearances – 12 in the league in his first season (2007/08).
Training on a daily basis with the likes of Mark van Bommel and Bastian Schweinsteiger improved Kroos further, but it was another midfielder that would arguably have the greatest impact on Kroos’ career, and not in the way you might expect.
Germany international Tim Borowski joined Bayern on a free transfer from Werder Bremen in summer 2008, pushing Kroos further down the pecking order. Yet the Bavarians were keen not to stifle the youngster’s encouraging development and, as they had done with Philipp Lahm at VfB Stuttgart six years previously, they sent Kroos on an 18-month loan to Bayer Leverkusen in January 2009.
Under the tutelage of Jupp Heynckes, who would later also coach him at Bayern, the Greifswald native developed into one of the Bundesliga’s standout midfielders. One particularly fruitful five-game spell in 2009/10 brought five goals, four assists and consecutive Player of the Month awards from German football magazine kicker.
Kroos ended that campaign with a hugely impressive nine goals and 12 assists in total, and a place in Germany’s final squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, where he appeared in four of his team’s seven matches.
“I look at my career in stages,” Kroos later said in an interview with the German Football Federation (DFB). “Jupp Heynckes was the most important coach I had in the early stage of my career, both at Leverkusen and then in Munich too. It’s fair to say that it was after he arrived in Munich in 2011 that I started to be able to play at a high level consistently.”
After a bucket load of trophies under Heynckes, including that 2012/13 historic treble, Kroos then worked with Pep Guardiola, and though their co-operation lasted only a year before the former’s move to Madrid, Kroos values the lessons he learned under the Spaniard to this day.
“You could say that Heynckes’ arrival was one of the catalysts for my development, but I wouldn’t underestimate that year under Guardiola,” he says. “I think my career took another step forward in that time. Guardiola saw me as a central player in his system, which fitted my style of play perfectly.”
Kross was instrumental as Germany lifted the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, with no player laying on more assists than his four. His performances also saw him named in both FIFA's All-Star and Dream teams for the tournament as the world took notice of his talent.
Kroos swapped Munich for Madrid shortly after becoming world champion and he continued winning, signing off his club career with a fifth Champions League victory in the iconic white shirt by helping defeat Borussia Dortmund in the 2023/24 final.
As the trophies and the appreciation racked up, Kroos looked more and more the German equivalent of Xavi, and the extent of his impact could be seen by the widespread delight at the news he was ending his international retirement ahead of Euro 2024 on home soil.
In the end, Germany fell short despite Kroos' return, but there is no doubt the man himself will be remembered as an icon of the beautiful game who made it even prettier.
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