Barcelona and Real Madrid are said to be among the teams fighting it out for Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos.
The pair are joined in the race for the Germany international by Chelsea, with Manchester United out of the running as they turn their attention to Athletic Bilbao’s Ander Herrera.
AS reports Barca’s strategy to sign Kroos is different to that of Madrid or Chelsea. Madrid are speaking with Kroos directly to convince him to go to Santiago Bernabeu, while Chelsea are banking on the offer of €8m to convince him to choose Stamford Bridge.
Barca, meanwhile, are hoping to exploit a good relationship with Bayern to convince the German club to sell this summer rather than lose Kroos for nothing next year when his contract expires.
The relationship is said to have been established last year, when Barca sold Thiago Alcantara to Bayern, but Bayern paid €25m rather than Thiago’s €18m clause and expect Barca to do likewise for Kroos as a sign of solidarity.
Kroos has said nothing on his preferred move and is not expected to do so until after Germany’s involvement with the World Cup is at an end.
