I should point out right from the start that at time of writing Luka Modric is still a Tottenham player, and Harry Redknapp has just told those loveable rogues at Sky Sports News that there is no chance what so ever of the Croatian midfielder leaving and therefore that is the thinking behind this piece, if he goes on to be sold, clearly this all becomes irrelevant, but isn’t that why we love football, because it can change all the time? Even before I finish this he could be a Chelsea player, so let’s see what happens…
It is widely known that Modric didn’t want to play against Manchester City on Sunday and at half time he was probably gutted that Harry Redknapp hadn’t given into his plea. The root of his teams problems on Sunday seemed to be the pairing of Modric and Kranjcar in the heart of the Spurs midfield, clearly there was a chance they were going to get dominated by Barry and Toure and that is exactly what happened and on that tactical decision the game was won and lost, not to say that a superb City performance didn’t fully warrant their big win.
The future of the 25 year old has filled the backpages for most of the Summer, in fact in the aftermath of their mauling at the Lane, ‘Arry claimed it had been his worst pre-season and that seems to be more or less entirely due to the debate over the future of Modric one that I think could and should have been ended months ago.
The rumours seem to suggest that the players continued presence at Tottenham is down to Daniel Levy as opposed to the sides manager Harry Redknapp. It has been suggested that ‘Arry was ready to sell him and use the oodles of cash to firm up and improve his squad, clearly he is a great player, but doesn’t every player have his price? Time has now run out for the manager, if Modric is in fact sold this afternoon, there is no time left for Redknapp to bring in a new player to replace him, so clearly at this point he will want him to remain, but a month ago, I am not so sure.
The problem is that Spurs have now got a player that doesn’t particularly want to be there, apparently his head hasn’t been right for the first couple of weeks of the season, well why do we assume that as soon as the window shuts he will be fine again? There has been no statement in the last few days from the player on his future and whether he has now decided he wants to remain in North London. When January rolls around they could be in this exact same scenario, only it will be more difficult for Tottenham to rectify it.
If the mood of the Croatian doesn’t improve, and Spurs do cash in on him in January it will only give Redknapp a month to find a replacement, and it will be at an inflated price since players always cost more in the middle of the season. In keeping the player I genuinely believe that they might be causing problems for themselves further down the line and they would have been better flogging him to Chelsea months ago.
In Van der Vaart they already have a creatively minded midfield player and playing him in an attacking midfield role behind a couple of strikers and Tom Huddlestone holding behind him I believe the Spurs midfield could be just as effective as they already are with Modric, if the money was spent on a top quality striker I think they would be in a great position.
It still seems as if he will be a Tottenham player this time tomorrow and hopefully he can get his head together for the long season that is to come because otherwise his side could be in real trouble…right I better check Sky Sports News again to make sure he hasn’t been sold…
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Maybe if you morons stopped talking about it first. the chairman said months ago, not for sale, guess what? we didnt sell him, forget about it.
Yep, the people who write these sites just can’t quite believe all their constant going on about thus didn’t make it happen.
he stayed and will be at spurs this time next year, spurs have one of the best midfielders in the world in modric, and if you believe the prees he is on peanuts, if he needed replacing they would need to pay any player of his quality atleast 100k a week, if you believe the 45k he is supposed to be on then they would end up paying the best part of 3 mil extra a year thats 15 mil over the length of his contract so i can see levy keepin him for the whole of his contract, as that 15 mil is nearly what spurs paid for him in the first place. so either way levy wins, you might also want to consider that bentley is still a spurs player(yes i know he has been loaned to west ham) on a reported 65k a week and cant get in the team, yet levy wont sell him under levys valuation, so if he wont take a deal that will lose money he sure as hell wont take a deal with no finacial benefit to the club
sorry i ment to say stop losing money on bently
Rich g said it all.
This crisis has been created by the media and half-baked semi-literate bloggers with nothing better to write about. Most of the stuff that has been on the Web has been based on wishful thinking rather than on facts.
“….and they would have been better flogging him to Chelsea months ago.”
Why? Because he’s got a strop on? So every time a big club show an interest in our player, all that player needs to do is stamp his feet a bit a we tear up his contract citeing ‘his head has been turned’ and give up our best players year after year?
How about. F*** Chelsea, we don’t need the money, so Modric can just turn his head back this way and get on with the job he’s so very, very well paid to do.
If you think this is about Modric, you’re mistaken. It’s about keeping our players who are under contract regardless of how much they’ve been tapped up and how much their heads have been turned!!
May we please have a moratorium on Modric rumors and gossip for at least another 4 months? It’s getting rather old….
I really thought that the transfer deadline day would be the end of it… but no… some moron decides to write another article. Please get a spade, dig a hole and jump in it. You are a nob and should get lost.. we are all really effing bored of these stupid sites. Why don’t you write about something interesting like Colonol Gadafi’s love child or Sunderland and stoke and their amazing transfer windows.. pointless, crappy article.
It’s all well and good for Spurs to want to keep him, but if Modric takes the huff and decides he really doesn’t want to be there, there’s little Spurs can do. They can’t not pay him, and they wouldn’t release him.
Harry Redknapp needed a four or five new faces at least, not just Parker and Adebayor (although they are both good signings). Bolton’s asking price for Gary Cahill was ridiculous, but Spurs might have been able to get closer to it, had they sold Modric, and if they’d sold him when Chelsea first expressed an interest (both not at the original price), they would have had most of the window to get new players in.
What happens next is really up to Luka Modric, not Spurs.
Not really if he refuses to honour his contract he can be sued for a huge ammount of money and banned from football for a very long time. Its like going off a house you bought then refusing to pay the morgage… er.. tough do it or lose it.
I think we should all congratulate the genius that is Daniel Levy, who rejected a whopping £40m for a player who’s worth only half that, doesn’t want to be there and will eventually leave Tottenham for a lot less.
He made a rod for his own back when he said he definitely wasn’t for sale and after what happened with Berbatov, he couldn’t sell Modric and kept him for the sake of his own ego even though £40m would have been great business.
Spurs couldn’t even close out a deal for Cahill and although Parker will improve them a lot, they won’t threaten anyone for a top 4 spot.
I just wonder how small Chel$ki feel right now. Are Terry and Lampard still dreaming of playing alongside Modric?
They would have been crowing if their tapping up had paid off, now they have to eat a huge helping of humble pie.
Not a mention of their sensationally pathetic failure in the meda. Humiliation is a word that comes to mind.