Can Toni Kroos replace Paul Scholes at Manchester United?

Toni Kroos

Since 2008, Manchester United have been a club ambling along without a full compliment of central midfielders. Now, with their competitive future threatened, the lack of an all-rounder with the required dynamism and quality to drive the team on has never been more apparent. But is Toni Kroos the answer? The midfielder has been linked with a possible move to the league champions.

This season, Kroos has made 18 league appearances under Pep Guardiola—the joint highest number of appearances for an outfield player—and could well be using external interest to squeeze out some leverage for a better deal in the next round of negotiations in the summer.

Having watched the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Ballack hold out for improved conditions using similar tactics in the past, it wouldn’t be the first time a Bayern player has used foreign suitors in such a way.

Bayern most featured players this season

Yet even if he was keen on linking up with Wayne Rooney & Co. next season, Bayern aren’t in the habit of letting players leave unless they’re already deemed surplus to requirements. Due to the financial might of the German giants too they’ll be in no rush to sell Kroos if his intentions are to defect, and could conceivably play hard ball with the player, writing off any potential compensation by demanding he runs down the last 18 months of his contract. After all, they don’t need to make money from player sales.

Bayern would also be able to use any delays as an opportunity to talk the 24-year-old round into changing his mind and committing his future to the club. Their 5-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend was the first Bundesliga match of the season not to feature Kroos in some capacity, and he is clearly valued by Guardiola.

And the way in which the Spaniard has reconfigured the academy product dubbed “the sniper” by his admirers would also have a major effect on his suitability for a move to Old Trafford.

Toni Kroos stats

Though once described by Jonathan Wilson in The Guardian as “perhaps the archetype of the modern attacking midfielder”—partly due to his versatility and work rate—he has been played in a deeper role this year.

Rather than shuttling through the final third, he has begun to focus his abilities on recycling and retaining possession as well as offering greater penetration with his forward passes. In this sense, were Moyes somehow able to convince him that a move to Manchester would be beneficial to his career and development, he would arrive as a potential replacement to Michael Carrick rather than the upgrade on Tom Cleverley some may expect.

But that doesn’t mean that Kroos would be a luxury signing for a role that doesn’t need reinforcement however. After all, Carrick is 33 this year and would not only benefit from the presence of some genuine cover for his duties in the team but also a player to succeed him as the team’s passing hub.

The German is a player with far more to his game and mentality however, and would hopefully resemble the tenacious creativity of Paul Scholes in a red shirt rather than the monotonous safety play of Carrick. Boasting on average a 92% pass completion rate for the season so far, he would likely be an excellent fit as the team’s next passing hub.

Toni Kroos Passes vs Stuttgart (89% Pass Success)

In the short-term though they could play together within Moyes team should suggestions that the former Everton manager wishes to emulate Pep’s Bayern side contain some substance. Bringing in Kroos as the midfield’s primary deep-lying playmaker would allow Carrick to drop deeper into a more defensive role, akin to that played by Philipp Lahm in Guardiola’s 4-1-4-1 system.

The platform provided by both players may even allow Marouane Fellaini to play alongside Kroos in a more direct and robust role, as a box-to-box wrecking ball. That would provide a stable foundation to an attacking trio spearheaded by either Rooney or Robin van Persie, flanked by the likes of Adnan Januzaj, Juan Mata, Danny Welbeck, Shinji Kagawa and Antonio Valencia.

Yet that assumes that Moyes has such a set-up in mind, and that he could pull it off, or at least conjure up a functional imitation of Bayern’s formation and methods.

Still, the largest assumption remains that a move for Kroos is even on the cards for the summer or beyond. It seems highly unlikely that such a coup could be secured, especially considering what the player would be giving up by leaving Munich, not to mention the strife he’d be stepping into at United.

If such a transfer were to come about, he would certainly fit the bill of the high calibre of player required to ensure the standards are raised in midfield. In a way, Kroos would be the signing Cesc Fabregas was meant to be in the summer, but until anything concrete is confirmed, no one should be holding their breath.

Should United target Bayern’s creative midfield dynamo? Absolutely, but they’d do well to line up an array of alternatives in the meantime.