REAL MADRID
Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos: “it was always important for me to finish at the top”
The German midfielder, who recently extended his contract with Real Madrid, spoke about his fitness and football ambitions.
After making his contract renewal official for another season at Real Madrid, Toni Kroos, Real Madrid’s metronomic midfielder, explained his decision to take up another year at the club. Shared with his brother, Kroos’ podcast, Einfach mal luppen, has become a way for the player to communicate his feelings on a weekly basis.
As well as praising the club for their behaviour in the renewal process, Kroos failed to rule out extending further his contract with Madrid, meaning we might be seeing his white boots for a little while longer. Here are all comments made by Kroos:
On renewing his contract with Real Madrid: [I did it] because I feel it is the right thing to do. In fact, I’d like to congratulate the club for the way in which they managed everything. I think it has been another showing of the connection I have with the club, on both parts. I made known my position saying the same thing from the start and very clearly: ‘I don’t want to leave here. I’m not sure if I want to play another year or not, but I won’t leave here.’ Of course, the club has to keep in mind two important things: in theory, I could have signed anywhere else from January 1. The club could have pressured me a lot more before. And the second thing is that, when the new year starts, you have to plan things for next season in terms of personal things. So it’s better to know at the start of January than at the end of June. From that point the club was very happy that I said ‘I’m not going to do anything, I’m not changing clubs, you have that security’. We don’t need big moves or negotiations, I wasn’t going to put another club in the middle of things. But they never pressured me to know before. That was what the club transmitted me, there was that respect. I took my time and I still said that I wanted to tell the club because I wanted them to have a certain level of planning.
Motives for singing a new deal: I am still excited. I feel good, my health is good, and I have the feeling that I can still bring something to the team. I didn’t want to decide in October, because the season is long and sometimes you can see the lack of energy at the end of it. I still feel like I’m important. I always said it was key for me to finish at a high level and not tie myself down for three more years.
Ten years at Real Madrid: Some people said: ‘it’s great to play another year in the new stadium as it will be done next season’. Volker (his agent) always said: ‘no, you can’t stay for nine years at Madrid, it has to be ten. It has to be ten.’ I explained my reasons, it wasn’t either the stadium or the tenth year.
Kroos’ ambition: Seeing the knockout rounds of the last few months, I can say that it’s still there. I’d like to keep playing those types of games. We’ll see if it continues working. But I still have the same desire I had 15 years ago to win those games and trophies. I’m not tired at all. I still get annoyed when we lose. That’s important too, to have that same feeling. I still enjoy football, it’s what I like. I am aware that I’ll never be able to do something so well again. I also still enjoy the pressure here. The same thing happens with expectations. I’m not one of those people that can go somewhere and play for nothing to win, where I’m playing for 7th or 8th place.
The right moment to renew: I told the club at the time, weeks before accepting the offer. I’m happy about that. My agents were in Madrid for just one meeting about it. I think it was four hours long and they only talked about that for 15 minutes. It was as easy as always with Madrid.
Retiring in 2022: It wasn’t completely untrue. Of course, in the moments you’re a bit more emotionally charged. You feel that you can’t get higher. In the end that’s how it is. For me it was an incredibly special day [winning the Champions League vs Liverpool in Paris]. The previous success (in the Champions League) was in 2018 and everyone was inside the stadium. Doing that again and at the same time knowing how difficult it is... it wasn’t a joke. I wasn’t prepared to make the step in that moment, but it went through my head two or three times, that’s for sure. But then the thoughts came that I have now: I don’t regret anything. You feel sufficiently good, even for Real Madrid. So I decided to keep that feeling in my head.
Another renewal in 2024?: Right now I don’t want to commit to anything, I don’t know. Maybe there is a decision a lot before, a clearer one, or not. Why do I have to stop the journey now? There is no reason, at least not now. We’ll see how the year starts, how it works out. Then I’ll ask the same questions as this year. There were some arguments on the other side as well. We’ll see. Right now I’m not going to commit to anything.
