Kroos: United the club of my dreams

The rumours linking Toni Kroos have gathering pace over the past few weeks, with the player’s contract talks with club Bayern Munich hitting a stumbling block.

As it stands, Kroos is some way down the pecking order with his salary at the German champions. Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben are reportedly the top earners on £165k-a-week, followed by Bastian Schweinsteiger on £135k, Philipp Lahm on £120k, then Mario Götze on £115k. Kroos is on £65k, which is still below the likes Manuel Neuer, Dante, Jérôme Boateng, Thomas Müller and Claudio Pizarro.

In January he was asked about his future and he claimed he was “unable to rule anything out”, with Bayern apparently very rigid with their wage structure.

This weekend, his brother and agent, Felix Kroos, has claimed that United is his dream club and that his brother has a choice to make.

“We have already talked about it,” he said. “Manchester has been the team of my dreams since I was a child. However, I don’t give him any advice. He will take a good decision for himself. There are worse situations than having to decide something like that.”

Not for the first time, Bayern honorary president Franz Beckenbauer has stressed that the club will not be held to ransom by Kroos.

“You have to make a decision as a club when someone’s demands are going through the roof. There is not a single player who’s worth changing your entire wage structure for. Nobody’s indispensable. If the player wants to stay at Bayern, I can only advise him not to overplay his hand.”

Whilst you imagine that Kroos would have to be fairly mental to leave the German and European champions for the 7th best side in England, there’s no denying that we would be willing to pay him considerably better than his current club. He must see the £300k-a-week we’ve just agreed to pay Rooney and be tempted. But you have to imagine that if Bayern are prepared to let him leave, better clubs than United will also be keen to pay him well.