Madrid Press: Kroos and Rodriguez top summer list

No Real Madrid players were in action yesterday as Holland and Costa Rica made it through to the last eight of the competition at the expense of Mexico and Greece. Tonight Raphael Varane and Karim Benzema should be in action for France, while Sami Khedira will line up for Germany as the two countries prepare for their respective last 16 clashes.

In terms of Real Madrid news, transfers once again dominate the pages in the two main sports papers, Marca and AS. The former leads with Toni Kroos while the latter goes with Jame Rodriguez.

Marca claims Real Madrid are close to the signing of Kroos having already agreed personal terms with the player. They say that should Los Blancos and Bayern Munich reach an agreement, Kroos will sign a five-year deal at the Santiago Bernabeu. The German international has only one year left on his deal at the Allianz Arena and has so far failed to agree a new contract with Pep Guardiola’s side.

Meanwhile, Monaco man James Rodriguez is in the spotlight due to his sensational World Cup. He scored two goals for Colombia in the last 16 at the weekend to take his tally to five overall in the tournament. And speaking afterwards he told reporters he would prefer a move to Real over Barcelona – something AS has picked up on and says Los Blancos will follow up on.

Finally, Alvaro Arbeloa has been keeping fit over the summer. The full-back posted a picture of himself and a friend having completed a triathlon in San Sebastian at the weekend. The team at realmadridnews.com also competed their first triathlon at the weekend in Madrid and knows how tough the event is, so congratulations to Arbeloa!