The last of the Croatians
At last this morning (Bank Holiday Monday 27th August, 2012) came the official Tottenham Hotspur club announcement of the departure of Luka Modric to Real Madrid (pending medical) for a fee reported to be £30 million, but coupled with news of a “partnership” between Real and Spurs. What the extent of this partnership will be remains to be seen, but it probably includes a regular friendly or two for a start, along with the promised sharing of ideas, and perhaps “first refusal” regarding future transfers. No doubt the relationship is some sort of compensation for Spurs having to accept less than the £40 million that Daniel Levy had been seeking.
Luka is therefore the first and last of three high profile Croatian Internationals that were on our books for the best part of the last 4 seasons. (Earlier this summer we sold Niko Kranjcar and Vedran Corluka.)
Despite the rancour generated by Modric’s transfer aspirations both last summer and this, he remains a player that I loved and admired, although his reputation will forever be tainted by his desire to leave. Spurs have clearly missed his midfield skill in their first two games this season. Effectively this has been the same situation as last year, when he was left out of the first game, and he was well below par in the second. It is surely an imperative, if not necessarily achievable, to find a suitable replacement before midnight on Friday.
We Spurs fans keep having our hopes built up with rumours of big name players coming our way, only to be deflated when we find that the said player is beyond our transfer budget and wage structure. It is certainly not as easy these days to be a Spurs fan, rather than one supporting the “moneybags” clubs of Man City, Man Utd and of course Chelsea. Many Spurs fans seem to have the same high expectations of Daniel Levy’s E.N.I.C (English National Investment Company) controlled wallet.
In a time when so much Spurs-related transfer activity is conducted closer and closer to the midnight transfer window deadline, Luka Modric’s transfer into Spurs was actually agreed before the end of the 2007-08 season, although not effective till that summer. Thus Luka missed out on a trophy with Tottenham, who had just won the Carling Cup when he signed, but of course he did play a massive part in our subsequent qualification for the Champions League in the 2009-10 season. Modric was voted our player of the season in the year we graced The Champions League, which is no little praise bearing in mind some of Gareth Bale’s massive eye-catching performances in those big games against Inter.
Modric’s finest moments in a Spurs shirt were perhaps his winning of the ball in the San Siro away to AC Milan, sending Aaron Lennon away on that end to end run that led to Peter Crouch’s finish. Many Spurs fans criticise Modric for not scoring enough goals. He did score 17 in 141 (+9 as sub) appearances in all competitions. Of these, perhaps the most precious was the winner at home to Chelsea in March 2009.
Modric never scored many fantasy points either, because he was not often the provider of the final assist before a goal. However, those of us (and it was the majority) who loved him and recognised his value to the team saw a player of slight, wispy build, but with the stamina, strength and determination of a lion. He is a ball-winner, ball-carrier, and ball-giver of high quality, who makes any team tick. That’s why he has attracted a high fee from one of the World’s best football teams, and one of the biggest sporting franchises around.
I’m sorry Luka Modric is leaving Spurs, but we cannot have a player at our club, whose heart is not in the team and its objectives. I shall continue to watch his career with interest, and wish him the best of luck in his future career. Sadly his time at Spurs has been soured by the transfer saga, and I fear his reception from Spurs fans will not be too warm at any future meetings.
Modric’s full playing record for Spurs:-
P Sub Goals
Premier League 113 4 13
FA Cup 13 1 1
Carling Cup 3 1 0
UEFA games 12 3 3
TOTAL 141 9 17
