http://3down3up.com/issue/october-2011/article/luka-modric
*This may not be of particular interest to many, but could be worth expanding into a debate about club power/player power if anyone can be arsed.
By Paul Gorst.
You will know the story by now, it is depressingly familiar.
Star player seeks a move to a bigger club to improve his bank balance and profile in equal measure, usually citing ambition and/or homesickness. Their desire to move becomes top-of-the-hour stuff for rolling news channels and these sagas have an innumerable amount of column inches and internet pages dedicated to them.
The protracted transfers drag on for weeks and months, and it reaches a stage where no news, in turn becomes news. It is incredibly tedious stuff. These events happened over the summer most notably to Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas. Stewart Downing, Ashley Young were also part of the circus and Raul Meireles, Charlie Adam also became bit-players to the big names. This is to name but a handful. Carlos Tevez was also a key member of this want-away-clan, and although he never made a switch he so desperately pines for, he is surely set for pastures new in January.
But there is one player whose story has bucked a trend. It looked for all the world that Luka Modric was going to make the short switch from Tottenham Hotspur to Chelsea in the summer, as he spoke of his Tottenham career in past tense and made it known he wanted out.
‘I want to leave Tottenham as friends. I have enjoyed my time there, but now it is right for me to look at another club.'
'I have an arrangement with the chairman. When I signed my new contract, he said that, if another club came to sign me, they would consider the offer.’
The early developments bore all the hallmarks of the generic transfer saga.
‘Chelsea are a big club with an ambitious owner and ambitions to win titles and fight for the Champions League’ – Citing ambition as reasons for leaving, check.
‘I am happy here, and so are my family. I like the city’ – Letting it be known, he is a family man, check.
‘This is not about money.’ – But a bank balance boost wouldn’t harm any potential move, check.
‘Spurs will always have a place in my heart.’ – Trying to keep the fans of his current club on his side despite seeking a move, check.
This may sound a little critical, but it is become the norm when asking for a transfer to bigger clubs to include all of the following, if you wish to leave without a barrage of abuse.
Modric, also claimed, with a straight face: ‘If somebody comes to the club and the offer is good for me and acceptable to them, then I want to leave.
‘I wont ask for a transfer no. That would be disrespectful.’
So Modric, like so many other players over the summer and the January window before it, worked tirelessly to engineer a move. A move from a club who wanted to keep him and it looked like the Croatian would get his wish.
Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy, huffed and puffed and made some loud noises about not accepting Chelsea’s advances on his star midfielder.
‘As I’ve said previously, Luka Modric will not be sold. That’s the end of it.’
Cynics suggested he wasn’t the first Chairman to state a player would not be sold against their wishes and he certainly wouldn’t be the last. Many neutrals believed the inevitable was just that, and the former Dinamo Zagreb star would turn out at Stamford Bridge before the end of the transfer window.
And when manager Harry Redknapp left Modric out for the first game of the season at Manchester United claiming ‘his head’s not in the right place’, the writing looked like it wasn’t just on the wall, but on all four, the ceiling and floor too. But when the transfer window was closed, Modric remained a Spurs player, and with it, Levy had struck a blow for club power. Something that many thought survived only as a myth in modern day football.
The message was clear, Modric would have to knuckle down and soldier on for lowly Spurs on mere £40,000 a week, poor Luka. To be entirely fair to Modric, since then his performances have been of the typically high standard he has set over the past two seasons. He was instrumental in the 4-0 win over Champions League chasing rivals Liverpool and his opening goal was one of the goals of the season so far. He also played his part in the wins over Wigan and Wolves, was intregal to Spurs recent victory over fierce rivals Arsenal at White Hart Lane.
Modric will need to be at his best as any slight hint of an under-performance in the north-London derby could be interpreted as not having the stomach to fight for the Spurs cause. We await the developments with interest.
The upcoming January transfer window should be an interesting period for Spurs, Modric and Levy.
*This may not be of particular interest to many, but could be worth expanding into a debate about club power/player power if anyone can be arsed.
By Paul Gorst.
You will know the story by now, it is depressingly familiar.
Star player seeks a move to a bigger club to improve his bank balance and profile in equal measure, usually citing ambition and/or homesickness. Their desire to move becomes top-of-the-hour stuff for rolling news channels and these sagas have an innumerable amount of column inches and internet pages dedicated to them.
The protracted transfers drag on for weeks and months, and it reaches a stage where no news, in turn becomes news. It is incredibly tedious stuff. These events happened over the summer most notably to Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas. Stewart Downing, Ashley Young were also part of the circus and Raul Meireles, Charlie Adam also became bit-players to the big names. This is to name but a handful. Carlos Tevez was also a key member of this want-away-clan, and although he never made a switch he so desperately pines for, he is surely set for pastures new in January.
But there is one player whose story has bucked a trend. It looked for all the world that Luka Modric was going to make the short switch from Tottenham Hotspur to Chelsea in the summer, as he spoke of his Tottenham career in past tense and made it known he wanted out.
‘I want to leave Tottenham as friends. I have enjoyed my time there, but now it is right for me to look at another club.'
'I have an arrangement with the chairman. When I signed my new contract, he said that, if another club came to sign me, they would consider the offer.’
The early developments bore all the hallmarks of the generic transfer saga.
‘Chelsea are a big club with an ambitious owner and ambitions to win titles and fight for the Champions League’ – Citing ambition as reasons for leaving, check.
‘I am happy here, and so are my family. I like the city’ – Letting it be known, he is a family man, check.
‘This is not about money.’ – But a bank balance boost wouldn’t harm any potential move, check.
‘Spurs will always have a place in my heart.’ – Trying to keep the fans of his current club on his side despite seeking a move, check.
This may sound a little critical, but it is become the norm when asking for a transfer to bigger clubs to include all of the following, if you wish to leave without a barrage of abuse.
Modric, also claimed, with a straight face: ‘If somebody comes to the club and the offer is good for me and acceptable to them, then I want to leave.
‘I wont ask for a transfer no. That would be disrespectful.’
So Modric, like so many other players over the summer and the January window before it, worked tirelessly to engineer a move. A move from a club who wanted to keep him and it looked like the Croatian would get his wish.
Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy, huffed and puffed and made some loud noises about not accepting Chelsea’s advances on his star midfielder.
‘As I’ve said previously, Luka Modric will not be sold. That’s the end of it.’
Cynics suggested he wasn’t the first Chairman to state a player would not be sold against their wishes and he certainly wouldn’t be the last. Many neutrals believed the inevitable was just that, and the former Dinamo Zagreb star would turn out at Stamford Bridge before the end of the transfer window.
And when manager Harry Redknapp left Modric out for the first game of the season at Manchester United claiming ‘his head’s not in the right place’, the writing looked like it wasn’t just on the wall, but on all four, the ceiling and floor too. But when the transfer window was closed, Modric remained a Spurs player, and with it, Levy had struck a blow for club power. Something that many thought survived only as a myth in modern day football.
The message was clear, Modric would have to knuckle down and soldier on for lowly Spurs on mere £40,000 a week, poor Luka. To be entirely fair to Modric, since then his performances have been of the typically high standard he has set over the past two seasons. He was instrumental in the 4-0 win over Champions League chasing rivals Liverpool and his opening goal was one of the goals of the season so far. He also played his part in the wins over Wigan and Wolves, was intregal to Spurs recent victory over fierce rivals Arsenal at White Hart Lane.
Modric will need to be at his best as any slight hint of an under-performance in the north-London derby could be interpreted as not having the stomach to fight for the Spurs cause. We await the developments with interest.
The upcoming January transfer window should be an interesting period for Spurs, Modric and Levy.
