David Moyes has confirmed wanted to sign Toni Kroos for Manchester United as Paul Scholes’ long-term replacement.
During Moyes’ opening months in charge at Old Trafford Kroos was strongly linked with a move to the club before eventually remaining at Bayern Munich and joining Real Madrid the following summer.
Moyes has been working at Euro 2016 as a technical observer for UEFA and has watched Germany play as part of that role. Writing in the Sunday Times, the former Everton boss explained his plans for the central midfielder.
“I wanted to bring Kroos to Manchester United, from Bayern,” Moyes wrote. “I thought his range of passing and his ability to play people in would have made him a top United player, maybe Scholes’ heir. He’s gone on and shown at Real Madrid what a fantastic footballer he is.
“Kroos is a special talent, probably the closest thing at [Euro 2016] to a Xabi Alonso, an Andrea Pirlo or Paul Scholes. It’s the number of times he gets on the ball, his vision, his choice of when to play long or short.
“He’s got a great array of passes and the big thing for me is he tries to make winning passes. He tries to make passes that play teammates through. He’s not one who just goes sideways and backwards.
“He’s a quarterback of a midfield player, who can open you up with one pass, and there aren’t many like that. Like Scholes, Alonso and Pirlo, he’ll also try and get forward when he can and have a few shots — because he’s such a good striker of the ball. He doesn’t just sit in front of the back four.”
Since Moyes’ interest Kroos has gone on to win the 2014 World Cup with Germany and the Champions League with Real Madrid.
