What Real Madrid Need Toni Kroos to Fix Amid Comeback Links

The club legend retired in 2024 but is being lined up for a new role at the Bernabéu.

Toni Kroos is a living legend at Real Madrid. | Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press/Getty Images

In the near two years since his departure from Real Madrid, Toni Kroos’s shadow looms large.

The German retired in near perfect circumstances, bowing out at the end of the 2023–24 season a La Liga and Champions League double winner, with his final appearance of 465 for the club the final win over Dortmund in which he provided the assist for Dani Carvajal’s opener.

A winner of 23 trophies across 10 seasons, including five Champions Leagues, Kroos—along with his teammate Luka Modrić—was an essential cog in the engine room that powered Real Madrid’s winning machine. Tellingly, Madrid have not won a major trophy since his departure.

Now in a report from The Athletic, it is claimed that Kroos is being lined up for a return to Madrid; not in midfield but in an off-pitch role.

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Kroos Eyed for Zidane-Style Comeback

Toni Kroos won five Champions Leagues at Real Madrid. | Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

Madrid are said to be “in talks” with the 36-year-old over a “a new role with key responsibilities.”

The details of the nature of the position are light, but Kroos is supposedly being lined up for a wide-ranging remit that includes “decisions on squad planning, representing the club and providing day-to-day support at the training ground,” while working alongside president Florentino Pérez, general manager José Ángel Sánchez and chief scout Juni Calafat.

It is noted that this would be a similar path trodden by Zinedine Zidane, who initially joined in an advisory, quasi-ambassadorial role before transitioning into coaching.

Since leaving in 2024, Kroos has focused his time on his family and the Toni Kroos Academy, which also operates out of Madrid.

In April of this year, the former midfielder was honored with the Laureus Sporting Inspiration Award at a ceremony in the Spanish capital as a recognition of a his career achievements.

Asked about a potential playing comeback at the event, Kroos told reporters: “Now I have other motivations in my life and other projects.”

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Kroos Hints at Madrid Issues

Toni Kroos receives the Laureus Sporting Inspiration Award 🏆#Laureus26 pic.twitter.com/Y8Ia0n1Yml

— Laureus (@LaureusSport) April 20, 2026

While he didn’t comment directly on Madrid’s current fortunes, with the club on the brink of successive trophyless seasons. However, he did make a telling comment about teamwork over individualism.

He said: “Within the team, I tried to be a team player. I was clear that I could only achieve great things by playing as a team.

“Doing that doesn’t mean having 11 or 25 friends on the roster. I’ve never been on a team with 20 friends; that’s impossible. But in the teams where I’ve won, we understood when it was necessary to be a team, to put egos aside, to contribute individual quality so the team could benefit. I think that’s key to winning great things.”

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What Could Toni Kroos Do at Real Madrid?

Toni Kroos could help with squad planning amid a period of transition. | IMAGO/Pro Sports Images

With a summer of change beckoning, the addition of someone of Kroos’s profile to the off-pitch staff at the Bernabéu could be a valuable one.

Pérez, the man who holds the cards at Madrid, will turn 80 next year and has struggled to build his next great team at the Bernabéu amid a messy power structure and unbalanced squad.

Pérez has often relied on highly respected ex-players—Jorge Valdano, Predrag Mijatović, Zidane—to act as consigliere when it comes to areas like squad planning. With Madrid in need of a roster shake-up, Kroos could provide an essential voice of experience in the boardroom to steer the club in the right direction and, even, help curb some of Pérez’s worst instincts.

Kroos may even be the man best suited to working alongside the scouting department to identify the right player to finally replace himself at the heart of the Madrid lineup.

His Laureas Award comments also suggest he might have a thing or two to say to the current Madrid dressing room and could eventually become a useful training ground presence, for a group of players who have occasionally struggled with intensity and discipline.

At the least, he might offer a respected bridge—as someone who has been there and done it all— between the superstar players and the club hierarchy.

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Looming Off-Field Concerns

Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez oversees a messy power structure at the club. | Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press/Getty Images

However, while there are clearly interesting options for Kroos’s return, his presence will matter little if Madrid do not sort out their tangled—and reportedly warring—hierarchy.

Former winger and manager Santiago Solari is the club’s current director of football, but reportedly holds little sway in the boardroom. Meanwhile, there have been reports of a power struggle between GM Sánchez and Anas Laghrari, an external advisor to Pérez.

Who actually is leading the club forward is not clear at this moment in time, and one of the challenges during this summer of transition should be clarifying roles and not simply adding more cooks to the kitchen for the sake of it.

There is also, of course, the question of who will manage the first team next season.

Kroos the player made Madrid’s midfield tick. Doing the same for Madrid’s boardroom is an even bigger ask.

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