"Madrid, Bayern, Barcelona and Chelsea are the four greats right now"

Toni Kroos has been speaking of his decision to join Real Madrid this past summer but has revealed that he considers Chelsea as one of the four best teams around.

He said:

"I know what it means to play in a team with great individual quality, We all respect each other, the spirit is amazing.

At the moment, there is no better player than Cristiano. He was one of those who looked out for me at first, he's a really nice guy.

I was lucky to come from a club with great standards. In Munich, it's more than stepping out on to the field to win - you start the season to win titles. So I didn't have to adapt a lot.

I enjoy playing in Madrid. Although people may not believe me, it's a family club. I feel that people trust me.

I was happy for the chance to do something new, I feel it was the right step. Madrid are a great club and were the challenge I sought after my long and successful Bayern career.

Madrid, Bayern, Barcelona and Chelsea are the four greats right now. So I just changed one for another."

I know his quote is mainly about Real Madrid and the family environment there, but I felt it was important to include his quotation about Chelsea.

To think that ten years ago when Roman Abramovich took over, Peter Kenyon spoke at the time of the long term objectives for our football club to first become established in European competition on a regular basis and then to become one of the top clubs in Europe.

To think of the strides this club has taken forward in the time since is amazing when you think about it and Toni Kroos has confirmed the case!

Chelsea are one of Europe's elite now and that's amazing considering where most of us of a certain age had been used to watching "back in the day!".