Toni Kroos is the secret Englishman who nearly joined Manchester United, loves darts, Wimbledon and
Toni Kroos will be hoping to break English football fans' hearts in the Champions League this season as he bids to win a fifth title.
The 32-year-old is part of the evergreen Real Madrid midfield trio of Luka Modric and Casemiro who will come up against Man City in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
Live commentary of that match will be on talkSPORT in the huge European clash.
Should they find their way past City then another English club could await, if Liverpool beat Villarreal.
He is more than familiar with England and will no doubt enjoy his trip to Manchester.
Back in 2014, he came very close to joining Manchester United before David Moyes was sacked.
The Germany legend may just be a secret Englishman too… stay with us for this one.
He has a love of all things England and his social media activity over the years shows how he can’t get enough.
Most read in Football
Here at talkSPORT.com, we’ve taken a look at a few things that makes him an ‘Englishman’:
Loves darts
It is the quintessential English pub sport and is very popular over here compared to other countries around the world.
The sport’s popularity in Germany is still small, but that has not stopped Kroos being a big fan.
The 31-year-old is a huge fan of Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor and has regularly tweeted about darts in the past.
Fan of British pop music
When you think of German bands, Rammstein and Kraftwerk come to mind.
But for Kroos, there is nothing better than the likes of Robbie Williams and Olly Murs.
Kroos is close with the former Take That singer and appeared in a 2019 documentary about his life where he showed a signed shirt. He also asked the German for a special favour.
"You've won everything in Madrid, I'm asking you to sign for Manchester United!" he said in the documentary.
The Real Madrid midfielder has also posted pictures with Olly Murs in the past and professed his love of James Blunt and Ed Sheeran.
Loves London and Wimbledon
Kroos is a big fan of the English capital and seems to spend plenty of his spare time in the city.
When asked on Twitter a few years ago, he said London was his favourite city and also loves coming over to watching Wimbledon.
Fluent in English
Kroos is fluent in multiple languages, but it seems as though he got to grips with English early on in his life and it took him a while to pick up Spanish.
Read More on talkSPORT
Speaking to Blick, Toni Kroos said: "I didn't speak Spanish regularly until my second or third year because I wanted to speak in Spanish when I was reasonably well at it.
"I was lucky I had [manager] Carlo Ancelotti, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale who spoke English with me. It took my wife a while as well to start speaking Spanish."
Betting Offer Of The Day
Get 6/1 Man City to win or 40/1 Real Madrid (£5 max bet)* - CLAIM HERE
Deposit min £/$/€10 using promo code 888ODDS • Bet up to £/$/€5 on your selection at normal odds in the regular market • If your selection wins, we’ll pay you out at the normal price and any extra winnings from the advertised enhanced price will be paid to you in Free Bets • Free Bets are granted within 72 hours and expire after 7 days • Free Bet stakes are not included in returns • Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time • Restrictions apply to withdrawals, payment methods and countries & Full T&C’s apply 18+ begambleaware.org
ncG1vNJzZmiskaG4tLzOq6tnm5%2BifKe7zq2ZmqScZIZxgI9vamisn6O2brfRqKasZZ2Wu27B051kppmeYrCqwNhmqZ6ZnGK6orDRoptmnJGnwbR50aiZm6GVYsSquMuimKarXw%3D%3D