Toni Kroos and the Manchester Appeal: will he move in the summer?

It may seem a little early in the year for summer transfer rumours, though there are always a few that slip out in the spring. One that has been increasingly talked about with great excitement is the speculation around the highly rated young German midfielder Toni Kroos lining up a move to Manchester United in the summer.

However, with the World Cup looming and Bayern showing no sign of slowing on their progress to become THE major footballing powerhouse in Europe, it begs the question… why would he want to?

Devil’s Advocate or not, even the most passionate United fans would say they don’t have the appeal they once had. I am not here to dissect their poor season, because they have had that enough already. It just seemed, while they said that having Sir Alex Ferguson as manager was like starting the season with 10 points, I think that Moyes at the helm (whether his fortunes improve in seasons to come or not) has exposed this team as a squad with far too many average players to win anything serious.

Subsequently, Old Trafford, which was once seen as the place others teams wrote off in their seasons because they expected a loss, is now a place where teams are going and playing with belief and far too often for the Old Trafford faithful, those teams get results.

Now, United will play Bayern Munich in the quarter finals of the Champions League, With that game looming there will almost certainly be talk of ‘Kroos playing against his future team’. So let’s examine the pros and cons.

For a start, he is generally a starter in the Bayern starting line up, despite the mouth watering choice given to Pep Guardiola in midfield.

As mentioned, Bayern are still winning, and winning convincingly. He plays in his native country, no adapting to the language change, the lifestyle change and the Manchester weather.

The main point seems to be, as is usually the case, is Kroos is in the middle of contract discussions. The general consensus is the Bavarian giants won’t pay his ludicrous wage demands, United will. Does this not seem a bit too good to be true? Despite losing value on the stock exchange, United certainly have the financial muscle, as proved by Rooney’s new contract, supposedly £300k a week.

So why wouldn’t Bayern pay Kroos what he’s after? With all the high wages they pay, with all the stars they have and want to keep and with all the money they have, what sense does it make to let a promising young German go ‘on the cheap’ because of contract discussions? And surely there is no debate as to what is more appealing to the player? Undoubtedly, United’s fortunes will pick up, but they have been overtaken.

They are not in the same mini-league as their rivals Chelsea and Manchester City and Arsenal and Liverpool have leapfrogged them as title contenders.

So, for all those that suggest cynicism, criticism or whatever else, some realism is needed: If you’re Toni Kroos, do you stay as you are playing with Schweinsteiger, Robben, Ribery, Gotze, Muller et al? Or do you come to England and sit in midfield with Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley and co. with slim chances of making the Champions League for the next few seasons?

The answer, I think, is obvious.

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