4 players Real Madrid should renew in 2022

2. Toni Kroos

The Toni Kroos situation is a little bit of a weird one. The issue here isn’t from Real Madrid’s side. The club love and respect him and they would want him to stay. However, the German has made it clear numerous times in the past that he plans to retire while still at a high level in his game, something similar to Zinedine Zidane. He doesn’t want to overstay his welcome and once he feels that his time has come to an end, he’ll walk away with no regrets.

That doesn’t mean that Kroos should not be offered a new contract at the club. Let it be his decision on whether to sign it or not. His performances has been quite consistent and it doesn’t seem like his form is dropping this season either. He has been integral to the midfield and makes his presence known with some immaculate ball distribution and a beautiful ability to read the game.

It wasn’t too long ago when Casemiro said “If Toni wants the team to slow things down, the team will go a little slower – or if he wants to up the pace, the team will play a little faster. So basically, the way we play is determined by Toni Kroos”. The same is still true today as it was in 2020.

The trio of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric seemed to be invincible but as we saw a few months back, nothing lasts forever. Casemiro found a new home in Manchester United which helped us witness just how good Kroos and Modric are at holding down the fort. Of course, there was some help from a few of our younger players such as Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga. However, the transition post-Casemiro would not have been so seemingly effortless had it not been for the German, who has done more than enough to deserve an extension to his contract.