Toni Kroos has said Carlo Ancelotti told him he needed him to improve his Real Madrid team ahead of his transfer to the Santiago Bernabeu.
The 24-year-old German midfielder left Bayern Munich for the 10-time European Cup winners in the summer and has won many plaudits for the way he has slotted into the team so far this campaign.
Two former Real Madrid managers, Bernd Schuster and Jupp Heynckes, have both spoken to the press in the past week saying what a perfect match Kroos and Los Blancos are.
And speaking to Madrid-based sports paper AS, the World Cup winner revealed the influence Ancelotti played in persuading him to move to the Spanish capital.
“It was important that from the first day the Coach had confidence in me. Ancelotti said he needed me and has given me a central role in the team. In a telephone conversation he said I could make Madrid better,” Kroos stated.
He added: “The coach wants more balance in our play, a little more control. He said he wants our play to get better, to change, to have more phases of possession. And he told me he needed me.”
He also said his former manager Pep Guardiola predicted he would take up a deeper role and told him the best players in the world tend to move further back as their career progresses.
“I’m a central midfielder and 10 yards back than at Munich. Really, I’m a No.6. I’ve not forgotten the attacking side but for the moment I’m more a No.6. Pep told me at the start: ‘Toni, the best players move further back during their careers.’ With Ancelotti I could go the same way.”
