The game suffers when footballers lack personality, when they all dress similarly, when they have the same off-field interests and social media presence, the same diets, give the same standard quotes in interviews.
Max Kruse is different.
So it was no surprise when he said, in a statement to Union Berlin fans as he left the club, that money influenced his decision.
“I ask for your understanding for my decision to accept an offer that is long-term and well remunerated,” the 33-year-old explained as his return to VfL Wolfsburg was announced.
The really incredible thing is that nobody is that mad at him for it. Football fans are used to being lied to or misled and there’s a mutual respect with Kruse because he doesn’t do that. In a world full of well-polished, PR conscious footballers, Kruse is refreshingly and unapologetically himself. So much so that he will be forgiven for defecting from a cult club closely connected to its fans having a fantastic season (Union are fourth in the Bundesliga right now, 13 points and 11 places above Wolfsburg) to one of Germany’s widely criticised non-traditional clubs facing a relegation battle.
The modern game is full of conveyor belt footballers from academies, it is characterised more than ever by those players following more detailed tactical instruction than ever. The sport has become choreographed at every step. From the youngest players in academies to the matches at the very highest level, it is planned and managed to the finest detail. And it needs players — mavericks — like Kruse to break the mould and keep injecting life into the sport.
Down to earth and boasting what is, diplomatically put, a much more approachable physique than your average professional, Kruse is the everyman. One for the football romantic. He doesn’t really look like he belongs in top-level footballer. And then you see him play. Then you realise he isn’t just a top-level player, but one so talented that the fact he doesn’t belong in the modern game only adds to the charm.
The funny thing, with Kruse being so straightforward, is that he has no ego. His game selfless to a fault. A technically blessed risk-taker, Kruse is a player who expresses himself and excels at finding solutions. He’s an entertainer, a real number 10. Football is a poorer game, in terms of entertainment and excitement, because players (and characters) like Kruse have been eased by a game that takes itself increasingly seriously with every passing year.
Like any true misunderstood genius, he has attracted headlines for the wrong reasons down the years. He joins Wolfsburg with “a chapter open” that he wants to “write to an end” having spent one season with the club five years ago.
Most notably that season saw him make headlines for forgetting €75,000 in poker winnings in the back of a taxi and being accused of a Nutella addiction.
The latter was never confirmed explicitly, though Wolfsburg boss Klaus Allofs admitted he held a private meeting with player and head coach Dieter Hecking before telling Bild at the time that players must meet certain demands set “so they can perform at their best” and that Kruse “needs to correct a few things”.
In that lone season at Wolfsburg, Kruse managed 12 Bundesliga goals and assists as the club finished 8th. They finished 16th in both of the next two seasons without him.
He left for Bremen, managed 22 goals and assists (in 23 games) as the team finished eighth, then 12 as the team finished 11th, then 21 as they finished 8th again. He left for Fenerbahçe and Bremen dropped to 16th, then 17th, and now find themselves in the second tier.
After year in Turkey he returned to the Bundesliga with plucky Union. It didn’t feel like a natural right fit. Kruse had a reputation for not taking the game - and he is one of few who remembers it really is just a game - seriously enough. Was it the right choice to join a group of humble, diligent players punching above their weight? Would he pull his alongside them?
The marriage never should’ve been doubted. Kruse is the 21st Century king of German football misfits, Union was the perfect home.
Things went well, very well. To everyone’s surprise Union reached Europe. Not that Kruse was enthused.
“I’d be up for the Europa League. I wouldn’t be interested in the Europa Conference League,” he said with the season drawing to a close. “I don’t even know what that is. I’m happy for others to play there.”
His tune changed when he scored the last minute goal on the final day of the season to sink Leipzig and send Union - playing their second ever Bundesliga campaign - into the Conference League.
“It’s obviously world class that we get a reward for a superb season. In the final game, in the final minute, you can’t write it. We’ve earned it.”
But he was as honest as ever.
“I’m staying at home,” he shouted to head coach Urs Fischer in the tunnel after that final game and winning goal.
“I don’t have time on Thursdays anyway.”
Maybe the promise of not playing in Europe is why he’s returned to Wolfsburg. Maybe it’s the unfinished business. And maybe it’s the money.
As long as he keeps entertaining us, who cares?
Hi. Great piece. Had an unrelated question. Was wondering, as an Iranian football fan, how you think our Sardar Azmoun would fit in Bayer Leverkusen?