I'll preface this by saying Kroos's 90 card is my favourite one this year. Despite not having been in my team for the past 200 or so games for chemistry purposes he is still one of my top 5 goals scorers and assist makers with stats more akin to a forward than a centre-mid. When the chance came around to upgrade him for less than 100k, Fut 19 Coins as well as add a new card type into my team, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

In terms of chemstyles, I use Hawk to give him a little more on the pace, shooting and physical side of things. He's LCM in the following team, which switches to a 4-3-3(2) in-game.

# Pace

With the shift away from pace-based mechanics in this year's edition, I've found Kroos to be a very enjoyable player. 71 acceleration and 68 sprint speed is nothing to write home about, but nevertheless he doesn't run so much as glide smoothly round the pitch - never seeming to break a stride but always seeming to be in the right place at the right time. (This is probably helped by the chem-boost to Hawk, which gives him a +10 boost to his 80 positioning.)

# Shooting

A 5* weak foot, combined with 94 long shots, 89 shot power and a not-too-bad 77 finishing means he'll be able to hit those all-important timed finesses straight into the top bin. I was a little worried after picking up this card that he wouldn't be able to hit the heights of his 90 card (which had an almost 1:2 goal to games ratio) as he'd played most of his games before the supposed nerf to timed shooting, but those worries were washed away after his first few games.

In his first try-out game, an Online Singles Match, he hit a hattrick (seriously). In his second, a Weekend League game, he scored a beautifully curled 90th minute winner which prompted my opponent to send me this wonderful message of congratulations.

# Passing

The guy can pass. 86 vision, 93 short passing, 94 long passing, 84 curve.. He replaced UCL Saul, who is a good passer in his own right but who I felt lacked the je ne sais quoi to turn defence into attack. Kroos doesn't have that problem. His through balls are weighted perfectly, and his cross-field passing will either land perfectly at your player's feet or send them through on goal. He's the best passer I've used, possibly ever. I'm not the best at creating chances inside the box, but somehow I managed at least 5 goals that were more or less Kroos finding an inch of space to pass to M'bappe in the box to finish.

# Dribbling

Despite having four 5* skillers in my squad, I'm not the best dribbler in the world so I can't really comment. Kroos's 90 ball control is a godsend, because with a bit of LT dribbling he can open up that yard of space needed to get a pass or shot off. That's all that really matters to me.

# Defending & Physical

Kroos is not really in my team to defend, but he puts a shift in where he's needed, and his M/M workrates means that he'll get stuck in if he has to. Despite being 6'0", and having an extra boost from his chem style, he's still rubbish in the air so don't expect to be winning any aerial battles with him.

Although he only has 60 aggression, 83 standing tackle coupled with 74 strength is good enough for him to muscle the odd opponent off the ball. 76 stamina will more or less see him through a full 90 minutes.

# Overall

I did this SBC because I loved his original card, had quite a few players that fit the requirements in my club and wanted a chance to add a new card type into my team (I like colourful cards, don't judge.) His upgrade, though quite minimal, is not insignificant to me. In his first 10 games, a mixture of Rivals, Online Singles and Weekend League, he managed 8 goals and 7 assists and while his goal/assists per game ratio will definitely drop, I am confident it will surpass that of his base card. As I've mentioned, I'm not amazing at creating chances inside the box, so having a player like Kroos who can pass as well as he shoots is a massive help in the final third.