Toni Kroos publicly endorses his Real Madrid replacement | OneFootball

Former Real Madrid star Toni Kroos has on Friday moved to publicly endorse his successor in the no.8 jersey in Spain’s capital.

Midfield icon Kroos, of course, opted to bring his 10-year stint on the books of Spanish champions Real to a close this summer, calling time on a wonderful career in the process.

His absence is expected to be sorely felt in the engine room ranks at the Santiago Bernabéu this season, as Carlo Ancelotti and co. set about replacing a player who in the eyes of many is considered frankly irreplaceable.

When it comes to Kroos’ successor, from a jersey standpoint at least, though, one player was quickly identified as the chosen one.

The player in question? Federico Valverde.

Uruguayan international Valverde maintained a close bond with Kroos both on and off the pitch during their shared time in Madrid, therefore given the 34-year-old’s blessing as Los Blancos’ new no.8 upon his departure.

Valverde, in turn, took to the pitch in his new shirt number in a competitive setting for the first time on Wednesday, opening the scoring en route to Real’s UEFA Super Cup downing of Atalanta.

And Kroos has since issued his response to as much, taking to Instagram to unveil a pair of photos of his ex-teammate pointing to the ‘8’ on his shorts, accompanied by a simple heart caption:

Conor Laird | GSFN