Manchester United: 4 central midfielders for Mourinho to target

Toni Kroos

Kroos isn’t the type of midfielder that Matic nor Kante is which would mean he’d have to be paired with Schneiderlin, but he oozes class and would really improve United.

If Cesc Fabregas could play some defensive midfield for Chelsea under Mourinho then Kroos would be able to under the manager at United. Fabregas is as attacking as they come and doesn’t have too much interest in defending, which isn’t a prototypical Mourinho defensive midfielder.

For Madrid last season in La Liga, Kroos completed 94% (!!!) of his passes, as per Squawka, with half of those being forward passes. He averaged 1.5 key passes a game and an assist every third match.

In June it was reported that United had bid £31 million for Kroos and it’d be a crime if that’s all it takes to sign the German. United were in for Kroos when he was leaving Bayern in 2014 though Madrid was able to court his signature. Now they’re coming back in for the 26-year-old midfielder and have a real shot at bringing him in, even without Champions League football.

Kroos isn’t a goal scorer, he hasn’t scored more than two in the league in a season for the past three campaigns, but he doesn’t need to be and United surely wouldn’t need it. Kroos would accentuate Mkhitaryan’s ability by finding him in dangerous positions as well as directly setting up Martial, Rooney and Ibrahimovic.

If United can convince Kroos to sign it’d prove that European football is a facade, it’s not all a player wants, it’d confirm, well and truly, that money is the be all end all.

Next: Paul Pogba