Toni Kroos Breaks Down Failed Transfer To Manchester United, It Was So Close To Happening

Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has opened up on how close he came to joining Manchester United after being "convinced" by David Moyes to make the move.

The 32-year-old Germany international, who has lifted four Champions League trophies and multiple major honours, including a World Cup, during his trophy-laden career, joined Los Blancos from Bayern Munich in 2014.

He signed a six-year deal with the Spanish giants and has since gone on to make over 350 appearances for the club.

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But months prior to joining the ranks at Madrid, Kroos was inches away from signing for Manchester United. How close, I hear you ask?

Well, then-United manager David Moyes and his partner Pamela made a personal trip to Munich to visit Kroos' family.

"I knew beforehand that United wanted me," Kroos said via the Daily Mail. "And Moyes absolutely underlined that. It was a really nice afternoon with very pleasant people. We talked a lot about United's football plan, which convinced me."

In the interview, Kroos then admitted that a move was verbally agreed upon between both parties.

"We also got to know each other as people," he added. "We knew quite a bit about the Moyes family afterwards. We talked about how we lived and how we all imagined life as a family.

"In the end, we broke up to do it. So we agreed verbally. The next step should be to look at everything on the spot in Manchester. The move would not have been that complicated - after all, we only had one child at the time, seven months old. It would all have worked."

Image credit: Alamy

Despite talks taking place in Munich ahead of the 2013/14 campaign, a move fell through when Moyes was sacked by Manchester United.

"I'm not someone who thinks about hypotheticals," Kroos says. "Yes, it was close. I almost went to Manchester United. But that's not how things turned out.

"I don't have these 'what if' thoughts. Because there are no real answers to them. The only thing I can say with certainty is that I probably wouldn't have won the Champions League three times with Manchester United."

Kroos has also played down a potential move to United in the future.

"United is too big a club to be there for a year or two," he added. "This is not a club where you go to finish your career.

"You have to be there for three or four years and both the player and club must have a clear idea."

Back in 2020, Kroos once again spoke about how close he came to joining the Premier League club.

"Manchester had a lot of interest in me before the World Cup and a deal was close," the Real Madrid midfielder told the Lauschangriff Podcast.

"Then my agent called me and told me about Real Madrid, and when Real Madrid appear you put Manchester behind them in the line.

"At the World Cup Joachim Low asked me if I was leaving for Madrid, so I told him about it and he was happy for me to negotiate things during the tournament."