Speaking ahead of the arrival of Jude Bellingham, Madrid veteran Toni Kroos appeared to make a dig at now former-teammate Eden Hazard, who did not see success with the Spanish giants, and leaves the club this summer on a free transfer.
Real Madrid have opened their transfer window with the highest of highs. The club announced on Wednesday the official signing of Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund, for a whopping €103 million. He joins the Madrid midfield in the good company of young French double act Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni.
They are part of the club's midfield regeneration, there to phase out veterans Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. The German spoke on his podcast 'Einfach mal Luppen' about the arrival of the new star to the 'Merengue' camp.
He was positive about the new young star, but appeared to take a dig another big-money transfer: "We had another player who came for a lot of money and basically let his career die," he said.
"It was a lot of money, I think everyone would say that wasn't a good transfer. But let's be positive," he continued. 'Daily Mail' report that he is making reference to Belgian Eden Hazard, who commanded a similar fee to the English star but has definitely not seen success with Madrid.
It is reported that Madrid paid over €100 million for Hazard as well, who in his four seasons at the club, hampered by injuries, only scored seven goals in 76 apppearances. Despite his poor performances, the star was reportedly earning somewhere in the region of €400,000 per week with Madrid, before announcing recently that he would be leaving the club on free transfer this summer.