Tottenham Hotspur’s Luka Modric has been the subject of a multitude of high profile transfer rumours as of late.
The creative Croatian has thrived since Spurs boss, Harry Redknapp opted to move him to his preferred position of centre-mid, where he’s acted as the heartbeat of Tottenham’s admirable attacking style. The talent of this man has reportedly aroused interest from the country’s biggest clubs, including Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea and our very own Manchester United.
One look at these two clubs indicates where Modric would fit in better; with Premier League Legend and midfield maestro, Paul Scholes hanging up his boots, many United fans expected Luka to swoop in, take Paul’s boots and attempt to fill them. This is most likely due to the fact that aside from Scholesy’s infamous Ginger locks, in effect, both players are one and the same. Both are modestly sized pass masters who can chip in towards the season’s goal tally, exactly the kind of player Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted to having a soft spot for in the past. This, coupled with Scholes’s unavoidable and potentially unsettling departure from the Red Devils, seemed to pose United as favourites to sign Modric, and many assumed he was on United Road, on his way to Old Trafford.
Nonetheless Modric’s most recent comments leave little to the imagination, as he admits he wants to move to one of United’s biggest rivals, Chelsea. Whilst on holiday, Modric spoke to the Daily Mail and seemingly snubbed any potential move to Manchester, saying, “I want to stay in London. I am very happy here and so are my family.” He also stated that, “Chelsea are a big club with an ambitious owner,” inferring a move to Stamford Bridge is imminent.
This comes after Spurs boss, Harry Redknapp laughed off Chelsea’s “ridiculous” 22 million pound bid for Modric and after Tottenham’s Chairman, Daniel Levy said he is “not prepared to sell [Luka Modric] at any price.” Much to the anger of Daniel Levy, Chelsea appear to have prepared an improved bid of 25 million pounds, but Levy is adamant that Modric is not for sale.
It now appears that if any transfer goes through for Modric, it will be in favour of Chelsea, although whether the player will push the move through hangs in the balance and could be resolved within the coming days. The situation is becoming increasingly acrimonious as Levy is now prepared to report Chelsea for ‘tapping up’ Modric, meaning the matter may be pushed forward or could equally become lengthy and problematic. But through the affray, one thing seems fairly clear; Modric isn’t coming to Old Trafford.
So what does this mean for Manchester United?
Well, the search for Paul Scholes’s replacement goes on. A glance at the gossip column tells us that our next (and if you ask me) more favourable candidate is Internazionale’s Wesley Sneijder. As well as having great technical ability, he’s more than adept in dead ball situations, which fills a void that’s been left since the Cristiano Ronaldo era. The instability that Inter are currently experiencing could push the deal through too, as they seek a fourth manager in the space of a year, following the departure of former AC Milan man, Leonardo Araújo.
Many would argue that Sneijder would be a better signing than Modric as well, and after all of Chelsea’s efforts to sign the Croatian, they could be slapped with a point deduction and fine for their trouble, handing United an early an unexpected boost in the defence of their status as champions of England.
Even if the proposed bid for Sneijder falls through, the answer to United’s problem could lie closer to home as Tom Cleverley aims to stake his claim to a starting spot by hitting the ground running in United’s pre-season tour of the USA. Cleverley impressed across the pond in United’s last pre-season tour and capped a couple of goals, including a sublime effort against the MLS All-Stars, flicking the ball over Chicago Fire’s Wilman Conde in the box, before finishing deftly past Salt Lake’s ‘keeper, Nick Rimando.
The 21 year old who helped keep Wigan in the Premiership last season wants to move up a gear and compete for the champions of England. Cleverley even has his eye on plugging the gap that Scholes has left, saying,
“He [Paul Scholes] has been a great player for the club and I know I have a lot of hard work to do before I get on his level, but if I can fill a bit of a hole he’s left then that would be brilliant.”
And it appears that Fergie is willing to let him have his chance too, starting in the upcoming pre-season, where an interesting clash with Barcelona is on the cards at FedExField, Washington DC on Saturday, 30th of July.
Now that’s a big opportunity for both Cleverley and United to show us that there is life after the ginger maestro.
Piece courtesy of Ben Hyman
we adapted to play without relying too much on Scholes last season. So he won’t be missed much, more than we actually think. I found nothing interesting that worth a mention here. Thank you.
As a Spurs fan I have to say that Scholes and Modric are completely different players. Modric is not really a goal threat and has a poor shot. Despite being a good at harrying the midfield, he is not the defensive force of Scholes either. On the ball he is out of this world and he has great poise and vision to open up defences, like Scholes. Modric would be great for your team, but he is not even close to a like-for-like replacement for Scholes.
I thought the comparison is being made with the latter day Scholes who perhaps wasn’t as much of a goal threat but could dictate the play like he was at the start of the season as well as dictate the play with his raking passes.
I love Modric seen him a few times this season including at the Bridge against Chelsea and I always felt he has been quality, wouldn’t be a disaster to miss out on him but it would be if he then went to Chelsea.
We adapted play but are still vastly second to Barcelona.
Modric is a good player who will be great in any team,but statistics show Tom Cleverley have a better season playing in a wigan team that is no where as good as Modric Spurs team.Cleverley show that he have what it takes to be a success at old trafford,give him a chance. Tom 4 goal and 4 assists…Modric 2 gaol 4 assists.
I wouldn’t just look at goals and assists though, his play and how it makes the team play is just as important. The passes he chooses, how he can retain the ball etc
If you think statistics mean he is a better player you are clearly clueless. He has better statistics than Xavi, and who would you rather have? Also Modric made countless goal scoring opportunities only for Spurs’ crap strikers to completely miss them. Goals is not a major part of Modric’s play, he is there to dictate the pace of the game, keep possession and spot an important pass.
Absolutely right
If you’re counting assists then I think you should be looking at over a longer period than a single season and I also think you’ll find Xavi is somewhat more impressive statistically than either of the 2 lads in question ( with 29 assists in 2008/09 alone!!!!!)and possibly the greatest midfielder currently playing the game. I’m a HUGE admirer of Modric, but he has some way to go before being compared like for like with Xavi or Iniesta and, oddly enough, his defensive game is probably better than Scholsey going by last season alone. He’s not afraid to mix it and he covers a lot of ground.
Wow .. many people don’t know what kind of player modric is. gaols and assists is not what his speciality is. ITS THAT HE JUST DON’T GIVE AWAY THE BALL. if there is a close competitor to xavi or iniesta its MODDERS.
Having modric in the team increases the possesition by a large percentage.
Being a die hard spurs fan, it would be a disaster for us to let him go. So we hope he is going nowhere. COYS.
Don’t get me wrong I rate Modric and I actually think he had as much claim to being player of the year as anyone in the Premier League last season. However, this idea that he’s the magic bullet that will solve all United’s problems is a bit silly.
Unquestionably he’s improve our side, Modric is one of the best centre midfielders in the world, but against Real Madrid he made virtually no impact even in the home leg.
People talking about Modric as the new Scholes are overblowing it a little I think. We got the runaround by Barcelona and now everybody is grasping at straws, looking for X player or Y player who would’ve made the difference.
In truth Barcelona are simply that good nobody would’ve made that much of a difference. In fact if anything what we needed was more tireless, energetic workers who didn’t flag from pressing like our midfield Giggs especially leaving our defence 4 vs 4 far too often to leave us with a chance of beating them.
If we bought Modric I’d be very happy cos it would certainly strengthen us but if we don’t get him it won’t be the end of the world.
Modric did go missing away to Real Madrid, but that was understandable, having gone down to 10 men after 10 minutes
It has been no secret that we lack a mobile, creative play-making midfielder. Too many times this season, we’ve been hampered by teams putting pressure on the fairly static central midfield (minus the energy of an Anderson, Hargreaves or Fletcher)and breaking through nor can we now rely on Giggs running through for us consistently.
Especially when we play away, where opposing teams play with less inhibition.
Now that Modric has edged himself out of the picture for United. What do we think of Paulo Henrique ‘Ganso’?
Tom Cleveley can not fill paul scholes boots we need sneijder at all costs or nasri not tom giving kids a chance is not good just looks at arsenal anyway tom is a mid table player i dont see anything special in him.
Hi 5 bro
Tommy Cleverly is a half-decent, hard-working, useful winger, but no dynamic central midfielder. If you’ve watched him with Wigan or England youth teams, however, you’ll already know that he can’t hold the ball in pressure situations. That is THE PROBLEM. Otherwise, Darren Fletcher would own the job. Nasri is easily the best bet for fitting in with Rooney as I think Sneijder will stay in Milan and that, although he’ massively talented, Modric is another one who chokes in big matches. If Nasri’s not available, we ought to go for Javíer Martínez of Atletico Bilbao.
Lets just see what Ferguson and Gill have in mind. It looks like we are going to miss out on Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona, which is a massive loss. Also Modric wants to join Chelsea, so that’s ruled out. Gill said it will be a busy summer, but maybe that just meant De Gea, Jones and Young. To be fair that is busy compared to the last two years.
I think most of us where expecting a big name signing, but for some reason I can’t quite see the Sneidjer deal happening. Personally I would have loved Sanchez, would have been a dream signing, but we can’t compete with Barcelona. Maybe we can pull another rabbit out of the hat, like we did with Hernandez.