GUARDIAN/MODRIĆ WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE WORD
The Tottenham-Chelsea chess match for Luka Modrić is nearing its final moves. After a Chelsea bid of £27 million was rejected by Tottenham at the end of July, Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck stated that the Croatian midfielder would no longer be pursued by the club. With the ball back in Tottenham’s court, Soccernet has reported that Spurs would in fact be willing to sell Modrić to build for the future.
“You either sell him, go out and bring three or four players in and have a better team, probably, in all honesty, or you keep him. When someone comes along and offers to treble your wages and gives you the chance to play in a team that can win the Champions League, it’s not easy. He has had his head turned and it’s difficult for him.”
-Spurs boss Harry Redknapp
If the Redknapp quote wasn’t enough indication of Modrić leaving Spurs before the September 1st transfer window closes, Tottenham left their ‘magician’ off the squad in Thursday’s Europa League playoff round match against Scottish club Hearts.
What does this mean?
Just like Nikica Jelavić last year with his transfer from Rapid Vienna to Rangers, he was unable to play for Rangers in the Champions League because his previous club, Rapid, made the Europa League group stage. The same applies for Modrić this year.
If he were to play for Tottenham in Europa League, his stock would drop dramatically upon a transfer due to the fact that he wouldn’t be able to play in Champions League. The man would be cup-tied. Tottenham are obviously keeping their options open regarding a Modrić transfer. Look for another bid from Chelsea in the upcoming days in the £32 million neighborhood.
WILL KRANJČAR STAY AT TOTTENHAM?
Niko Kranjčar is still in the news regarding a transfer out of White Hart Lane. The latest rumor had Kranjčar, who played a minimal amount for Spurs last season, moving north to play for Premiership club Sunderland. However, it seemed to have only been a rumor with Sunderland boss Steve Bruce saying:
“I don’t know where that’s come from. As I have said repeatedly now for a couple of weeks, I am very, very pleased with what we have done and if we don’t do another thing, I will be delighted with what we have done. I don’t know where the Kranjčar thing came from. I have seen quotes from his agent – certainly, I have not spoken to Kranjčar’s agent, so I don’t really know where that has come from.”
Kranjčar played the full 90 minutes for Tottenham on Thursday as the Spurs completely dismantled Scottish club Hearts 5-0 in the Europa League playoff round first leg. Tottenham scored three goals in the first 30 minutes of the match. Kranjčar has been getting decent playing time this preseason and with Modrić possibly moving to Chelsea in the next two weeks, the door can re-open for Kranjčar to have a big season in North London. Here is what Niko had to say about the latest Sunderland rumor:
“There’s nothing new regarding any transfers. Like I said before, Tottenham put a fixed price on my transfer at £11 million- which logically no one will pay.”
More news on Modric:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byT-waC7sd8
kranjcar is all class. who else would admit that the transfer fee for himself is too high? gotta love him. and he IS a great talent. HR is the problem. how do you plan pienaar ahead of him, not to mention ahead of most MF in the league. but, as niko said, if he can at least be the 1st or 2nd sub he'd be happy to remain in london. personally, i'm hoping he stays and has an impact cuz i'm still a fan of spurs from the glen hoddle days.
@AZ….where to begin????
Pletikosa…..what assurances do you have that Harry promised Pletikosa anything? What, Pletikosa's biased view on the situation and how the events unfolded? Harry is not the first coach that has benched and not given Pletikosa any playing time. Seems like the Celtic brass were in full agreement as well along with mnay other clubs outside of eastern europe who have no need for Pletikosa.
Corluka…..its not like Corluka is a stud. he had plenty of bad moments last year that can justify him being pulled for someone. I like Corluka, but its not like half of Europe is beating down the door for him.
Kranjcar…..the price tag on Kranjcar is not Harry's doing, that comes from Levy. Kranjcar helped Harry win an FA Cup, so he does like him. Kranjcar is a good player, but he is not a top-tier player. We have said it many times ourselves, because of his lack of speed that will always hinder Kranjcar with top teams. The reason he put him in a preseason friendly was becasue all players get to play in meaningless games.
You need to stop looking at this like a homer and look at it from what it is, Harry trying to win games not appease players.
Jersey,
If Chelsea wanted him? There is still 2 weeks left. Tottenham are last second penny pinchers as there there transfer history shows…
They have loads of money to buy players but have yet to buy anybody. That club is going to rot once HR leaves because that squad is average talent sprinkled in with some good players. I dont really care though I just want our players to get 1st team action and Modric can do better than Tottenham. Corluka and Kranjcar can get 1st team on a team of Tottenhams size…
The whole conspiracy is ridiculous they are just out of favor thats all. EPL loves pace and neither Corluka or Kranjcar have that and HR loves it more than anyone maybe they have more talent but they don't have what he likes as a coach. He would not risk his job by playing awful players over ours get over it every coach has his preferred players and I have said it for a while now Corulka should have left Tottenham before he sits and rots on the bench next to Kranjcar. There squad is to big and its never rotated outside of injuries. Corluka can easily play on a club of Tottenhams level in any league but more than anyhting he needs 1st team.
There's a conspiracy against our players. They are clearly better than their counterparts who start in favor of them. The Euro 2008 really got into the heads of the Brits and now they try to keep us down. Kalinic was smart to leave after only one season with an idiot club manager.
yup..i agree…harry rednapp loves to kill croatian careers..look what he has done to the players
(1) Pletikosa — HR promise him chances to fight with gomes for no.1 spot..What happened in the end? Not even on the bench.
(2) Corluka—HR has dropped corluka in favour of walker in europa league against hearts..I think corluka will not have much playing this season at spurs…
(3) Kranjcar—HR claimed he likes kranjcar, but seldom play him..and now he cannot leave the club with 11m pound price tag,scaring away potential buyers…
And I got a feeling HR purposely put kranjcar in lineup in pre season friendly to encourage him to stay…but in the end he will not play again once tranfer window closes…
Harry Redknapp sure loves killing Croatians careers. LET NIKO GO!!! You don't play him and he doesn't want to be bench fodder. I am really starting to hate him.
Modric will stay, if Chelsea really wanted him he would be there already
no injury at all. the club made that up as the excuse why he did not play the last match. He is fine.
Has Modric got a groin injury at the moment?