Toni Kroos today announced that he will retire from football following this summer’s Euros, and that could actually spell bad news for Newcastle United.

The Real Madrid man has enjoyed a monumental career winning almost everything you can by the age of 34.

108 caps for Germany, five Champions League medals and then there’s his World Cup triumph with his country back in 2014.

Of course, that’s all well and good – but how does it affect Newcastle?

As far as we’re aware, Toni Kroos wasn’t en route to join Eddie Howe’s team any time soon, as sensational as they may have been.

But there could be an issue for Newcastle once Real Madrid begin to look for a replacement in midfield.

Despite his age, Kroos made 46 appearances this season, he’s still been a king-pin of all of their success.

And given Real Madrid have previously shown interest in Bruno Guimaraes, his active release clause could suddenly come of interest.

Until the end of June, it’s well known that the Brazilian midfielder could be available for £100m.

Real Madrid may now move for Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes after Toni Kroos retires

Arsenal and Manchester City are said to be very interested in Guimaraes themselves, but it remains to be seen if they would consider his release clause good value.

Mikel Arteta’s side are said to be confident of achieving a cut-price later in the window – something Newcastle would surely reject.

But if Real Madrid came knocking, Newcastle supporters may then understand Guimaraes’ desire to go – should that be the case.

The Brazilian is incredibly important on Tyneside, the kind of player Howe is hoping to build the club’s future around.

But fans will understand that a release clause was added for a reason, one that would still yield stellar profit for the club.

Of course, it’s all hypothetical for now, but once the Kroos news resonates in Madrid, it surely wouldn’t be a surprise if interest was reignited.

For Newcastle’s sake, they’ll hope that the deal to bring Kylian Mbappe to Spain is already putting to much demand on their finances to then chase their star.

All that being said, it seems as if Newcastle are already making swift moves to improve their own playing staff.