Toni Kroos has reiterated his desire to fulfil the remaining three seasons on his Real Madrid contract and hinted once again that he wished to retire in the Spanish capital.
The German international has been a fixture in the Madrid starting line-up across the past six years and has a contract with the club through until the summer of 2023.
“Three years in football are long, three years with Real Madrid are even longer,” Kroos explained, as cited by Diario Sport. “I definitely want to spend those three years at Real Madrid. So it will be a good time, at 33, to ask myself: ‘What is my physical situation? What is my motivation? Do I still want to continue? Then we’ll see.
“One thing you will never read about me: ‘Kroos goes to China for another two years’ or news like that. I cannot imagine that it is an option for me, to go somewhere else again.
“If we got together and they say, ‘Okay, another year here, because you’re still good enough and still want to’, I wouldn’t rule it out. But another change, to England for example, where they play very physically – I could not imagine that, when aged 33.”
The central midfielder penned a new contract at Los Blancos last summer until 2023 to end speculation that he would leave the club.
Last summer, Kroos told Bild, as cited by Marca, that he wanted to retire in the Spanish capital: “When I am aged 33, that would be a good age to retire.
“My contract duration was chosen consciously. At 33, that would be a good age to hang up the boots. I will have the opportunity at that moment to choose if I want to do something after that.
“Signing for Real Madrid is the best thing I could have done, I will never play in the United States, China or Qatar.”
The 30-year-old has been a fixture in Madrid’s first-team since signing from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2014, and has won three Champions League titles with the club.
Kroos – who has played 266 games for the club – is widely regarded as one of the finest central midfield players of his generation.
