File picture of Toni Kroos, then with Bayern Munich, celebrating after scoring the 1-0 lead during the German Bundesliga soccer match against Hertha BSC.
Real Madrid have confirmed the transfer of World Cup-winning midfielder Toni Kroos from Bayern Munich and intend to present him formally later yesterday.
The 24-year-old playmaker will sign a six-year contract with the Champions League winners and be presented to the media and fans at Real’s Estadio Bernabeu.
The German Bild newspaper reported the transfer fee as 30 million euros (40.6 million dollars) for the player who was widely praised for his performances in Brazil as Germany won the World Cup for the fourth time.
The signing of Kroos was front-page news yesterday in Madrid sports papers AS and Marca. AS called it “a very interesting signing indeed, and at a price that is really quite low for such a quality player.”
Marca said that “Kroos, tall and powerful, will be the fulcrum of the Real Madrid midfield for the next six years. This is a very clever purchase...He was the best passer of the ball at the World Cup.”
Marca added that the arrival of Kroos will probably hasten the departures of fellow German Sami Khedira and Argentine Angel di Maria.
Kroos is the latest in a long line of German midfielders at Real, which started in 1973 with the purchase of Guenter Netzer then continued with Paul Breitner, Uli Stielike, Bernd Schuster, Mesut Oezil and Khedira.
According to media reports, Real are also close to signing World Cup top scorer James Rodriguez from Monaco and goalkeeper Keylor Navas from Levante.
Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge thanked Kroos for his time in Munich and said: “We have achieved great success together with him here.”
Kroos’ contract with Bayern was due to expire in 2015 and with the parties unable to agree a new deal, the club decided to cash in rather than lose their player for free next season.
Real Madrid, Barcelona top Forbes rich list
Spain may have been embarrassingly dethroned as World Cup holders, but Real Madrid and Barcelona are still champions at making money after they were named as the world’s two richest sports franchises.
For the second successive year, Forbes business magazine tagged European champions Real Madrid, where Cristiano Ronaldo plays, as the number one sports team with a value of $3.44 billion.
Barcelona, the home of Lionel Messi, Neymar and now the notorious Luis Suarez, are second in the chart with a current value of $3.2 billion, while English giants Manchester United are ranked at three at $2.81 billion despite their miserable season.
The only other football club in the top 10 are German champions Bayern Munich whose current value of $1.85 billion is good enough for seventh spot.
The rest of the top 10 is from Major League Baseball and the National Football League.
The New York Yankees are number four, valued at $2.5 billion with the Dallas Cowboys, worth $2.3 billion, holding the fifth place.
With 30 teams in the top 50, for the second consecutive year, the NFL occupies 60% of this year’s list.
The full list also included six teams from MLB and four from the NBA.
The NFL’s prominent standing on the list and the potential sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft head Steve Ballmer for $2 billion shows the value of big market sports teams in the USA is higher than ever. Ballmer’s proposed record purchase price for the Clippers is 15 times the revenue. By comparison, in March the Milwaukee Brewers were sold for five times the revenue.
