Toni Kroos has said he still has not decided whether he will retire or extend his Real Madrid contract next summer.
Kroos, 32, has been in some of the best form of his career this season, helping Madrid to top LaLiga and their Champions League group.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.)
“I feel very good physically, I’m very happy,” Kroos said in a news conference on Tuesday.
“I’m calm. It’s funny, sometimes I read things [about my future] but even I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve said I’ll think about it next year, or now during the [World Cup] break. Then I’ll try to decide what I want to do.”
Kroos joined Madrid from Bayern Munich in 2014 and has won four Champions Leagues and three LaLiga titles during his time in Spain.
“I’ve always said that I won’t go anywhere,” Kroos said.
“I won’t change clubs. I’ll retire here. The only thing I don’t know is when. I don’t know what I think. We’ll see next year, but the club and I are calm… We’ll talk in January, February, or it could be March. Don’t get nervous, because I’m not!”
- Marcotti: Madrid wobble after penalty controversy
Kroos has formed part of an iconic midfield trio at the Bernabeu, playing alongside Casemiro and Luka Modric — but Casemiro joined Manchester United in August, while both Kroos and Modric, 37, will be out of contract next June.
“It’s each of our decisions,” Kroos said, when asked if his future was linked to that of Modric. “We each give importance to different things. I don’t ask Luka what he’ll do. He’s old enough to know, and so am I.”
Madrid need to beat Celtic on Wednesday to guarantee finishing top of Champions League Group F. They suffered their first defeat of the season last week, 3-2 at RB Leipzig, followed by a 1-1 LaLiga draw with Girona on Sunday.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti is facing a touchline ban after saying an “invented” penalty — given after Marco Asensio was judged to have handled the ball inside the box — cost them the win.
“I need to clear this up,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday. “In Italy ‘invented penalty’ means a penalty that’s not a penalty. There’s no bad faith and no accusation against a referee. I’ve never shown a lack of respect to a referee and I never will.
“I could be suspended for four games, and that’s fine. I’ve been on the bench for 1,200 games and if I miss four, it won’t change much.”
