Pundit urges Real Madrid star to snub return to national team and focus on his club career instead

Former Germany and Bayern Munich midfielder Stefan Effenberg has told Toni Kroos to focus on Real Madrid and not make a return to the national team. Effenberg believes that a comeback for the Euro 2024 would see Kroos lose a year or two from his club career.

In his latest column for t-online, Eeffenberg stated that Kroos would be a good addition to the Germany national team, but does not want the midfielder to lose the final years of his club career. He added that the fans might forget everything he has done for the national side in the past if he returns and they fail to win the tournament.

He wrote:

"If you miss out on a tournament like this at an older age, it might give you one or even two more seasons with your club. In sporting terms, he would certainly help the team immediately and provide stability, no question about it."

"He has been performing at an extremely high level for years and is still doing so at Real Madrid. But what he has achieved for German soccer can also be ruined a little by a home European Championship where things don't go well," he added.

Toni Kroos announced his retirement from international football after the German side were knocked out by England at Euro 2020.

Real Madrid star Toni Kroos blasted German players after World Cup exit

Real Madrid star Toni Kroos was speaking to MagentaTV when he blasted the national side after their exit from the FIFA World Cup last year. He believed that the players did not make the most of their opportunities which led to them leaving Qatar early.

He said (via 90MIN):

"I know the boys, I played with them until last year. I experienced a group stage exit too four years ago, and of course I can sympathise a lot with them. I was extremely disappointed because I had big ambitions for Germany and I absolutely saw opportunities."

The Real Madrid midfielder added:

"With the players we have, we should definitely be advancing from the group stage. If we get eliminated by Brazil in the quarter-finals, then we can say, 'OK, Brazil had maybe eight world-class players and we only had four'. But nobody can tell me that we have less quality than Japan and that's why we're eliminated."

Germany were knocked out of the FIFA World Cup in the group stages after they finished third, behind Japan and Spain. They lost their opening match to Japan, drew the second to Spain and then won 4-2 in their final match against Costa Rica.