Photo: PA
The Luka Modrić transfer carousel has begun…again! This time it’s European giants and world renown club Manchester United. Goal.com has reported that the Red Devils will try to woo the Croatian midfielder away from White Hart Lane in the upcoming transfer window when it opens on January 1st, 2012.
This is no news for Modrić. After three bids from Chelsea were rejected in the summer by the Spurs front office, it looked as if the midfield magician would stay at the Lane until his contract expired. With United knocking on the door step, could Tottenham possibly sell their Croatian stud?
The answer is simply NO! Even a £40 million bid from United shouldn’t have Tottenham management sweating. Spurs are on course not only to qualify for a second Champions League campaign in three years, but can also start being mentioned in the 2011-12 English Premiership title talks with Manchester City beginning to drop points. Spurs will simply up Modrić’ weekly wages and call it a day.
Chances Modrić moves in January: 4%.
I don’t think Modric will go to MU, but he would probably have less chance of being injured there. The refs seem to treat that team differently.
The Nets winning the NBA championship is more likely than me wearing a Manchester United jersey. The team is scum and I hate everything about them. You couldn’t pay me because I have pride in my beliefs.
I just switched from FIOS to Cablevision (NJ). I was able to get GOL and FoxSoccerPlusHD for less $ per month. However, ESPN3’s online content is not included.
Unfortunately, this is how I watched Croatia’s Euro games. Does anyone else have a reliable site for Croatia’s Euro games.
@Kakebake:
I am a fan of Modric regardless of league or team affiliation.
BTW what are all you tottenham modric jersey owners gonna go when he goes to united?
lemme guess jump on the bandwagon
whoever wrote that united reminds them of the yankees has probably never heard of madrid.
luka will go to united during the summer.
Celtic vs Rangers right now.
Jelavic has tried to bike the ball twice in the box. 3rd times a charm?
@I’ll dance
I agree with a lot of your points there, but I think pure speed is why Harry is going to keep him over Corluka. I watched the whole game last night, and Walker was pretty solid on all of his tackles. He killed it in the second half defensively, but again they were playing against much lesser team. The reason that they’re going to keep him in is because he fits the English ideal of a footballer. Is he big or is he fast? Sadly, if they posses any of those talents, they’ll usually put them in over a more skillful player. Finally, they’ve been winning with him back there. So unless things drastically change, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Carli Corluka on the field.
Palermo in the seria a… Perfect move for Milan in my opinion, he’s gonna have the chance to test his skills in a top 3 league in a country that we should start sending more of our players too!! Hopefully it works out better than it did for budan
Looks like Milan bedelj is gonna be headed to
I will also add that Modric makes everyone on Spurs look good, but the Spurs do not return the favor. In addition to perfect ball placement for others, he consistently makes runs which his teammates ignore or don’t possess the quality to return the favor.
VDV,Pav,Corluka and Kranjcar are more keen to provide a decent pass to him.
@Wallace:
I don’t know if he still does it, but Christopher Sullivan of Fox Soccer would always mangle slavic names especially leaving off the h of the c’ sound. This only annoyed me, because he painstakingly pronounced every Latin/Brazilian name.
@The Golden Child:
Walker sure was fast out there. He never picks out a good pass. He merely provides random crosses to the middle which nobody ever receives.
Modric was open calling for the ball at the top of the 18 and Walker chose to randomly fling the ball into a crowded 6 yard area. This is not an isolated incident for him.
With Lennon out, I can see an arguement for Walker, with Lennon in I can not.
Like Hutton, Walker shoots way to much and a great majority never even hit the target. I love when the pundits perpetually say that Walker, Huddlestone and Hutton “sure can strike a ball” when most of their shots go into the stands.
Corluka makes smarter more accurate passes and does not squander possession. Defensively, he does not commit the same silly fouls in bad locations.
Back to the whole “Corluka is better than Walker” debate. If you watched the game tonight, you would see why Corluka isn’t going to be getting that spot back anytime soon. You coul do the Svircic “one injury away” argument. I’d rather him be playing, though, then rolling the dice and hoping someone gets injured.
I started clapping in Applebees when he came in. I gave him a standing obviation and people looked at me like I was on drugs. Allen19 lives on!!! He had some nice touches and really showed something out there. The guy is the best player in the world, what can I tell ya.
@Mark, there’s one huge difference tho btwn ManU and the Yankees. In soccer, there are 2 or 3 other leagues just as good+/- as the Premiership; so in essence, there are plenty other teams with the tradition and RESOURCES of ManU to compete for thee trophy in club soccer – the Champs League. Conversely, there is no other baseball league even close to MLB, nor does MLB play other leagues in any meaningful games; so the Yankees simply grossly outspend everyone to guarantee themselves a playoff spot; and you cant win the WS w/o making the playoffs first.
Furthermore, buying great players putting together a soccer team at least equals the beautiful game; when you do that in baseball, it’s ugly glutony.
@Denis, I noticed that, haha. From what I can tell from their accents, the play by play guy is English and he was pronouncing Kranjcar correctly; the colour commentator is Scottish and he was adding the K.
I remember when Kukoc played for the Bulls, commenators were constantly mispronoucing his name (amongst saying other bullshit things); but under our established religion of anti-White multiCULTist political correctness, they made damn sure they pronounced every African or Muslim name to a tee. Kukoc had already been in the league for several years, already won Championships, already established himself as a very good and clutch NBA player, but announcers were giving more respect to lessor African and Muslim named players compared to the European White guy. I dont bullshit, I remember.
@IvicA
Those are valid points. As I said, I don’t think they’ll sell him him now. But it wouldn’t surprise me because MU is one of the few teams that would potentially “overpay” for him. They’re an arrogant club that’s not afraid to spend, and being in such a close race for 1st place (instead of sole possession per the usual) they may act a little desperately. 10 mil more is a pretty large increase. Who’s to say they wouldn’t offer even 15 more at 45 mil? You have to also consider that Luka has been vocal in the past and has said himself that he’d like to play for a club that competes regularly in Champions League. Another incentive for Spurs to sell sooner than later is because he’s healthy. If Luka gets injured in the second half of the season (God forbid) he’ll be the next Eduardo and they’ll be lucky to get 10mil from a Ukrainian or Turkish team…
I hate MU because they remind me of the NY Yankees. I would hope that no Hrvat would ever play for them. Period.
@Mark
It WOULD shock me if they did sell him now.
If they didn’t want to sell Modric for £30 million when they had that terrible 0-2 start (with two blowout losses), then why would they sell him now when Spurs easily look like the 3rd best team out there (which would secure them a CL berth) and even look like they could even challenge for the EPL title if they continue to play consistently?
Yes, you’re right, it is a business, but Modric’s value will be £30-40 million whether or not they sell him now or at season’s end. But the fact of the matter is that Spurs NEED Modric to secure CL football. If they sell him even at season’s end, they could easily fall to 6th in the standings next year. On top of that, players like Bale would probably leave too.
My guess is that Spurs will keep him until season’s end, hope that Harry stays on as manager (and doesn’t bolt to coach the England national squad) and hope that the Champions League football and a long term contract for Harry with be enough for Modric to sign that new contract they’re offering him. I don’t think that selling Modric is in their present or future plans.
NIko Kranjcar checks in for Tottenham… Why did Brits throw in an extra “k” I will never know.. Niko Kranjckar…
Spurs looking good in 3rd…
Logic says there’s no way Spurs will sell considering their success thus far. But we have to remember this is a BUSINESS. I don’t think Spurs will sell him when the transfer window opens in Jan, but it wouldn’t shock me if they did. They most likely will at the end of the season anyway. At the end of the day it’s all about the $$ for the owners. They may be perfectly content on finishing in the top 3-5 each season and not winning a title as long as they can continue to purchase low and sell high. Simple economics.
This won’t happen, why are you reporting this? Who reads from goal.com the worst soccer site. Yawn, this is irrelevant.
I still like Modric at Spurs at least until the end of this season.
SEEENNNNNNDDDD IT.