Kroos agent blows up over news of Lahm winning player of the year
The player's agent, Volker Struth, believes emotion played a role in the decision and says that Kroos was the best with plenty of people telling him the same.
Phillipp Lahm was voted the best German player of the 2016/17 season, which is a decision that did not sit well with Volker Struth. Toni Kroos' representative said he was both "surprised" and "disappointed" in a statement when the news was announced.
He begins the statement by saying that, "Philipp Lahm has had a lot of success and many achievements in German football and nobody can doubt that...but if a football magazine asks its members to select the '2017 footballer of the year', there is no doubt that the best was Toni Kroos."
The agent says that he considers things outside of football influenced the decision, "Emotional critics should not have a vote. This is just my personal opinion, but many people both inside and outside the Bundesliga have told me that this is what they think too. Philipp Lahm is an exceptional football, that's obvious, but to give him the player of the year is simply absurd."
It is the first time that Lahm has picked up the award, and the last, as he retired at the end of the season.
Philipp Lahm
In his final season, Lahm played in 38 games with 3,200 minutes, scored two goals and had four assists. He took Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title but they fell to Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final. He retires having never been sent off in his career.
Toni Kroos
The German midfielder was a key player during Real Madrid's best season for 50 years. He played 48 games, a total of 4,710 minutes with four goals and 17 assists. He was decisive for Zinedine Zidane in big games including the Champions League final in Cardiff. Kroos won four titles including the European SuperCup, Club World Cup, La Liga and the Champions League.
