Toni Kroos has announced his intention to retire. Maybe. In six years, at the end of his Real Madrid contract.
As a winner of the World Cup and the Champions League, maybe Kroos feels like he should go out on top, should he stay on top for the next six years?
From Kicker:
"I will be 32 by the time my contract ends, and that's certainly a point where I won't have a long way to go as a player, or at least that's the plan right now.”
"Sure, I don't know how I'll feel then, but there is no plan that includes playing football at 38 or 39.
"If I were to predict it today, it's more likely that I'll call it a day. But I can't give an exact prognosis yet."
It's important to note here (again) that Toni Kroos is 26 years old and has six years left on his Real Madrid contract, so he's either participating in the kind of wild speculation normally reserved for football pundits (who the hell knows what's going to happen in six years? We could all be dead by then!) or he's planning the most elaborate, drawn-out retirement tour of all time.
It kind of hope it's the latter, so Kroos can stop at, like, the Camp Nou six times and give six heartfelt speeches to the opposing fans who have been his adversaries his whole career and tear up a little every time and receive six rocking chairs, or whatever silly gifts the opposing team decides to give him. You know, like they do in American sports.
More from Kicker:
"I think at 32 you are past your prime as a footballer. There are differences. Bastian Schweinsteiger is struggling with injuries more often than Philipp Lahm. I think it's important to have an idea and try to stay fit for as long as possible. But I'd say it's a good age to retire. But I won't necessarily be held to my words in six years."
No, Toni Kroos. We're holding you to your words. You have six years to do get your affairs in order at Real Madrid and then you're never allowed to play soccer again.
Best guess: in six years Toni Kroos realizes that he rather likes being paid gobs of money to be a soccer player and hanging on for a few more years is better than having to get something resembling a real job.
