Kroos' Agent 'Astonished' at Decision to Award Lahm 'German Player of the Year' Over His Client
Volker Struth, the agent of Real Madrid's Toni Kroos, has expressed his dismay at the German Player of the Year award going to Philipp Lahm instead of his client, in a statement released on his SportsTotal agency website.
The full-back had never won the award despite a glittering career at Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, and retired at the end of last season believing he may never achieve the honour.
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Kroos - a former teammate of Lahm's at Bayern - was far more deserving of the award according to Struth, and feels that the outcome was swayed in the Bayern man's favour due to "emotional criteria" that came about because of his decision to hang up his boots.
Struth claimed the award should have "honoured the outstanding player of the past season, and that was without a doubt Toni Kroos," who had enjoyed a superb season with Real Madrid, with the club winning both the Champions League and La Liga.
"This is not a singular opinion, because feedback from several club and media people from the Bundesliga and abroad endorsed my position," Struth added.
"Philipp Lahm is an extraordinary footballer, but Toni Kroos should have been named Footballer of the Year. The vote for the Footballer of the Year has been reduced to absurdity."
Kroos has won the accolade once before back in 2014, and while acknowledging Lahm's pedigree as a footballer and offering the opinion that he should have won it before during his career, his agent believes that this should not have stopped the midfielder from winning once again.
Mesut Ozil has won the award five times, with Kroos being the only player to deny him the prize since 2011 until Lahm's win this year.
