Toni Kroos was sold by Bayern Munich to Real Madrid because they didn't regard him as "world class".
That's the claim of his former Bayer Leverkusen teammate Stefan Reinartz.
"Bayern didn't make enough of an effort to keep him. [Manchester] City and United also loved him and really wanted him but Madrid beat them to it by signing him for 25 million euros," said Reinartz to Die Welt.
"He is a friend of mine and I know the whole story. He was offered a new contract but he knew that [Mario] Gotze was also there and was roughly the same age as him and he wanted to be paid more.
"Bayern didn't want to pay him 10m euros and (Karl Heinz) Rummenigge told Toni that he wasn't going to get that money because he wasn't a world class player.
"But Toni didn't leave over money, he needs the confidence of other people and Real recognised that. That's why he left."