How Toni Kroos could be Real Madrid's next Zinedine Zidane

Crowd numbers work well as a measure of significance. Big games usually attract big crowds, as is the nature of sport and fandom. The same goes for Real Madrid signings.

The Spanish club has a tradition of unveiling each new player at the Santiago Bernabeu, opening the stadium up to fans pining for a glimpse of their new ‘Galactico.’ The bigger the player, the bigger the crowd.

An estimated 30,000 Madridistas turned up to greet Gareth Bale upon his capture. Likewise, an astonishing 80,000 welcomed Cristiano Ronaldo to the club four years previously. This time, just 8,000 were present for the parading of Toni Kroos on Thursday.

The ‘Galactico’ tag is hung around the neck of every new arrival (perhaps with the exception of Julien Faubert). Some find a way to swim under such weight, while others sink. In the context of soccer, signing for Real Madrid comes with an unparalleled pressure.

Not even playing for Bayern Munich will have prepared Kroos for what he will now experience at Real Madrid. Just 8,000 may have attended his introduction but soon that same stadium will be packed to capacity with fans demanding only the best from their Galacticos.

But Kroos isn’t so much the next Galactico, as the glue to hold them together.

Florentino Perez once spoke of his ‘Zidanes y Pavones’ philosophy, the idea being that for every superstar signed a youth product would be promoted from the club’s academy.

Such an approach was designed to maintain the balance within the Real squad, but soon enough Perez ditched the Pavones. Over two separate Perez tenures, Real became fixated with the Galacticos policy, turning the club into a toxic wasteland of egos and divas.

Even Jose Mourinho, the supposed great equalizer of footballing egos, ultimately failed to galvanize the star-studded Real Madrid squad in his efforts to clinch La Decima.

He exited the club having split the dressing room, making enemies out of Real stalwarts like Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso, leaving his replacement Carlo Ancelotti with an unholy mess to clean up.

Of course, Ancelotti didn’t just clean up, he decorated the place with the club's tenth European Cup. But he did so with Mourinho’s team. Now he will look to impose his own style, starting with the signing of Kroos.

If Kroos truly can be considered a Galactico—whatever that means—he is the thinking man’s Galactico. Real Madrid already have an embarrassment of midfield riches, but Kroos brings something different. Something they need.

At Bayern Munich, Kroos was used in a number of different positions across the midfield. By trade he is an attacking midfielder, but Pep Guardiola recognized his capacity as a deeper-lying pass-master, in the mould of someone like Andrea Pirlo.

The German World Cup winner’s versatility appeals to Ancelotti. Kroos will fit in around Real’s attacking weapons, whether it is in the number 10 role, the Pirlo role or on the flanks. If Bale, Ronaldo et all are the ones with the gun to your head, Kroos is the one who loaded the bullet.

There is risk attached to Kroos’ arrival though. His signing, along with the likely capture of Colombian World Cup star James Rodriguez, means there will also be a sacrifice at Real before the transfer window shuts.

If European soccer had a Most Improved Award, Angel Di Maria would have been a leading candidate last season. Once a flaky, brilliant-one-moment-futile-the-next winger, the Argentine’s improvement as a dynamic and irrepressible central midfielder was a key factor in Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph.

Yet with Kroos and Rodriguez in the lineup, presumably anchored by Alonso, where would Di Maria fit in? The answer could be found in the speculation linking him with a move away from Real. He wouldn’t fit, nor would Sami Khedira, who seems set for a Premier League switch.

Ancelotti led Real Madrid to their tenth European Cup by embracing his squad’s counter-attacking identity, but this summer could signify a shift in approach. Kroos is the man to control a game, rather than counter it.

Kroos is the embodiment of how the playmaker role has changed over the past decade. He is the archetype of the modern attacking midfielder, combining energy and drive with guile in a way few others can. Perhaps the last player to incorporate such qualities with such effortless ease was Zinedine Zidane.

The Zidane comparison is fitting, given that Real Madrid’s last great midfielder came in the form of the French legend. That’s not to say exceptional players haven’t passed through the Bernabeu since Zizou’s retirement in 2006, but Zidane was the last player to make the Real midfield his own.

It’s a billing that might even weigh heavier than the ‘Galactico’ tag, but Kroos could be the club’s best midfielder since Zidane. The fact that only 8,000 fans turned up for Kroos’ unveiling could soon be a source of shame for Real Madrid fans.