My name is Luka
Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 12:22AM I'm probably being fuelled by delusion and denial (and large quantities of rum), but something stinks. Something other than the perspiration soaking my t-shirt.
Either I'm not quite grasping the tactics at hand between the interested parties for Luka Modric aided by the media's onslaught to continuously link him away from White Hart Lane and his football agent or we're knee-jerking because of the completely transparent and hardly ambiguous direct quotes the Daily Mail have shared with us. Which doesn't actually make it a knee-jerk. Just a nightmare.
This (Daily Mail) is a publication that is usually avoided by most of us because of their lack of substance on any given day. But behold, a day after Modric's agent tells the Guardian that there is no attempt to engineer a move and that the player is happy and would not seek to leave unless the club accepted an offer - we are to believe that someone phoned Luka on his boat, and pretty much got the perfect response that the likes of Chelsea and probably Man Utd have been waiting for. That's a massive turnaround of direction from one newspaper to another that is just about passable as a 'newspaper'. Not that I trust football agents.
I guess if you're going to engineer a move, you don't select the more esteemed outlet. If this is playing out as a genuine ploy of forced departure, then someone (guess who) is holding the hand of Luka's agent allowing for a damaging response to the initial rejection of the ridiculous £22M bid.
I can see a hefty penalty payment transferred to the Tottenham Foundation coming up in the near future.
I'm basically conflicted because Luka and his agent have been pretty straight up thus far. We've all been saying how a Berbatov scenario would not be birthed because our little Croatian is simply not of that ilk. But here we are. Naivety on my part?
He wants out. We're not ambitious. We're a stepping stone. He's not asking for a transfer but has made his position unattainable and as a result will push us back into that re-building transitional period that allows the survivors of Sky Sports monopoly to continue to stay that one step ahead. The suggestion from the narrative of the Mail's article is, go and agree a deal and let me go. On paper, it's pretty clear cut because you fancy even the Mail wouldn't print and then credit the person without them not believing it to be true. Would they? Bit naughty if they have.
Although if you re-read the article, it's nothing new - he's said most of it before - until the last couple of quotes. Reading it within the context of how the article is shaped up, it sounds fairly final. But it might not be.
Man, I'm hanging on for dear life.
Regardless of any of the above, it's what happens next. A Harry sound-bite, a Levy statement and a show of strength or perhaps a follow-up from either agent or Luka himself.
He has a lengthy contract and we can only pull a 'Cesc' and keep him hostage here if we remain strong to our word. If the player's heart is not in our Hart then it's a case of tagging him with a price (say £45M) and then it's up to Chelsea to prove how ambitious they are. Although if you're going to leave Spurs, you'd think you'd just wait for our parent club to make a bid first.
For now, I'm embracing my delusions (and polishing off the rum), and will blindly hold the hand of hope as I fall asleep and dream that come September 1st, Luka Modric will still be a Spurs player.
Reader Comments (74)
I feel sick.
Luka...what have you done? Have you Berbatoved us? And why for the love of God Chelsea?
I hope we just start playing the kids who have come through the youth set up, given everything to the club they love to make it and then show some passion for the shirt....hang on. Sulzeer. Fuck it. What other sports are there to like!?
Sick sick sick.
Are you really paying any attention to the dropped on their heads while young people at the Daily Mail?
For shame
Can't believe he wants to go to a club that has no manager and cite ambition as the reason. We see it time and time again where a manager comes in and some of the big name signings become bench warmers.
Transfer window has barely opened and he is talking about lack of ambition! Unless Harry and Levy have told him exactly who they are after then he can't possibly have no idea what is around the corner, same as rest of it come to think of it.
And this deal he speaks of with Levy is almost the same deal every player has with their club; if a reasonable offer comes in for the player then they have to be allowed to talk to the bidding club. Thankfully we haven't had a reasonable offer .... yet!
I truly hope it is paper talk. If not though I am very disapointed in Modric, a player I have until now the upmost respect and admiration for. These quoted alone could do our close season a lot of damage.
Sadly it does feel like we have been here before and inevitably Luka will be off by the end of August. Intensly frustraing and depressing if he does, becuase we all know what will happen. Take a look at Villa, one leaves and eventually they all follow, how shit and predictable football has become. If we do happen to sell to Chelsea then we must secure either Drogba or Sturridge from them. Otherwise can not really see any other forwards that would realistcally come to spurs who would be much of an improvement on what we have.Arrrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!
I just feel sick to the core. But he has a reason: we are just NOT ambitious enough. We just don't BELIEVE enough. Ironically, the one way to show we ARE ambitious is to keep this guy. Show him who's the boss.
But.....I guess at the end of the day, the boss is still cash. Levy knows it best.
These are a number of quotes directly attributable to the player. Yes, the Mail hate us and have done everything in their power to unsettle the player but, at the end of the day, the "ambitious" Croat appears to want more Europe..well, Euros to be honest. cant imagine even the spazzy mail making this shit up. Force the bastard to make a written transfer request and start a bidding war regardless of whether the little fucker wants to stay in London. If sone Turkish club is the highest bidder then offer him the Orient Express or Sunday reserves against the Orient. A contract is a contract...
We have no ambition? Surely rating him as our most important player and wanting to keep him when other clubs want to sign him - is a clear statement of our ambition?
Obviously, need to add a world class striker to the fold to show him our intent. But this will hit us hard in the search for such a player.
From a Chelsea point of view...
I can't see it happening, I rate Luka, Don't get me wrong... but we already have *far* too many midfielders as it is.
Yes Luka has stated he wants CL action... well wait a bloody season.
And The Drog is staying... My ITK has said so.
If this is true----- and I hope it isn't, the one silver lining is that he won't go to Man U, and that will continue their decline which began with their shameful performance againct Barcelona.
Its Harry's fault plain and simple! If he had not said 5th is as good as it gets for Spurs fans then Modric would have stayed! Maybe that's what he told Modric in private too! Don't expect better than 5th! How long till Harry's lack of ambition filters down to the rest of the team!
Levy sack Harry and get a manager in who is a winner and WANTS to win the league! And makes the players believe we can win!
I actually have faith that we won't surrender as we did with Berbatov.
Would take a British world record for us to let him go.
He's gone, it's time to face the reality.
He is scum for saying this to the press
Well even from the back blocks of Australia, it is obvious that Modric is gearing up to go for a big move. Honestly who could blame him or others for matter of fact. Tottenham for all their support are a "wheeler-n-dealer" club. For decades all the management want and have achieved is find talent for very little and then sell for 10 fold. Everything about Spurs is tinged with "almost" or "just maybe" or "not quite". We will always be a bridesmaid and never the bride. We are never going to climb the ladder while we have management that only think of their back pocket, and we will fall into the group of "mid-table" also-ran.
What a cruel time of the week for the news to break. A hard week's work complete, getting in the mood for the weekend with a nice glass of wine and then... BOOM! Triffic.
Still hoping I had too much wine and am now in the midst of a terrible stress-induced nightmare. But deep down I know that not only is my weekend ruined, my beloved Spurs are on the decline once again, just when the glory days had made a fleeting re-appearance as if to tease us.
Dear, dear, Luka, we all thought you were a cut above all this. Please come out in the morning and say you've had too much wine too and that you obviously didn't mean a word...
Cheers Luka, well classy mate.
Those who say he is irreplaceable are wrong. The season we finished 4th was achieved when Modric was out for majority of it with a broken leg.
Let him get his move, get top whack for him, and I'm talking £55m of the Russian Puppet Oligarch's petro-dollars, then invest it in the squad just as we have done in the past.
It's ironic that Modric missing those absolute sitters against The Arse and Shitteh, thereby effectively costing us Top 4, translates into Luka's world view that we're not ambitious enough. Maybe we can take the money we get for him and buy a footballer who can actually score open goals from 6 yards out.
Luka wants CL football and is being offered it; what would you do in his position? We have ourselves to blame for not seizing the opportunity and dropping all those points. Of course, I'd be devastated if he left, but this has happened enough times in the past that I'm not going to invest any more hope. Just want the summer to be over to see exactly what shape of a squad we have left.
Would anyone like to meet me outside Stamford Bridge to shit outside their ground? I'm serious.
Our best player...off again.
Hoddle for Monaco.
Waddle to Marseille.
Gazza to Lazio.
Teddy to Man United.
Carrick Man United.
Berbatov Man United.
Have I forgotten anyone? It is late...
Hahah you are fools for believing our anti-Spurs made up EXCLUSIVE gossip that we sat on for 24 hours in order to edit appropriately
I want to throw up.
Haha
Spurs. Small club. Small club mentality.
Theres a reason all of your best players move. You spend a lot- do ok- but will never go anywhere or e anything ever again
Enjoy next season. It may be your last in Europe for some time
Nice to see what loyal players you have.
Redknapp will be in jail soon as well. After what he did at Portsmouth he deserves it. Hes a top quality manager though
And I hate how all of your players always set arsenal ad the bar. Its all they rabbit on about. Why not show some ambition
I'll enjoy watching luka playing at the bridge next year
Daily Mail run a story with no pictures to prove it happened, no agent's official press release to back their claim up, and no proof whatsoever to substantiate their claim that their Sportsmail writer somehow met up with Modders alone, without the presence of his agent, on his private luxury 'holiday boat', and somehow got out of Modders exactly what he's been wanking himself to sleep over, a confirmation that we're only good enough to hang around the Europa League and the only clubs that can ever challenge the monopoly are the ones aflush with dough? After the past month of Luka quite candidly admitting that he was happy at Spurs, and that he'd only consider a move if the club sanctioned it? Very, very unlikely. If the Mail did fabricate this, they're open to a whole range of fascinating 'defamation of character' and 'wilful slander' lawsuits brought against them by Danny boy on behalf of modders and THFC, which will make for some interesting apologies by that piece of refuse and a hefty, hefty 'donation' to the Tottenham Foundation. If they're fabricating it, of course. which it seems they are.
Getting pretty sick of this happening seen it all before e.g teddy berba carrick etc, modric has a contract so honour it and keep your mouth shut unless the club wants to sell you which it doesn't! Stand strong tottenham ( levy, redknapp). Show your ambition or it's two steps back.
Ryan,
one day; and that day will come, believe me-I'll enjoy watching Chelsea degenerate into the pile of sneering racist tosh they were before a Russian mobster bought them out with tons of shady mega-money. No class, no history, no pride. CFC- The rags to riches and riches to rags again story of the 21st century. Enjoy polishing your 'JT Legend' framed pictures- accurate portrayal of the shining virtures CFC stands for.
Bale, Lennon, Sandro, Huddlestone, BAE, Rose, Walker, Dawson, Kaboul (and Caulker, Naughton, Townsend)
We would still have a massive core of young players, and can get our hands on quite a few more.
We also have VdV, Gallas, Kranjcar, Pav, Corluka.
I hope this is all a big pile of pants, but if it is not it's not the end. I'll drink myself to sleep for a few weeks, but it won't be the end. :)
COYS!
Assuming it's all true and Luke wants to go, then all the club can do is get the best deal for itself. If the player is on a long contract, as Luka is, we aren't completely powerless so it's time show some of the power.
When Red Nose faces this, the big star who wants out or who might improve a PL rival, what does he do? He sells. For a lot. And to a foreign club. He must piss himself when the rest of the PL rivals sell to one another and in out case, him, effectively ensuring he improves his relative domestic position. He's happy to flog shite like Veron to Chelscum, but there was no way Horseface, Cris or Becks-and-a-lie-down were going anywhere in England.
So bye bye Luka if it has to be, but you're going to Italy or Spain or Germany to further your CL dream.
It will be weak as piss if we sell to anyone English. I'd rather £30m and/or a player the other way from Real than £55m from anywhere in England. So I for one will be interested to see if Levys ambition is physical or fiscal. Methinks this summer will be quite the signpost.
in other countries if they're linked away they are kept by the club to see out their contract and are rarely sold unless money trouble i.e augero, villa (left because of money troubles) Silva (left because of money troubles) none of them played for big teams! he has 6 years on his contract and we have no money troubles, he wants to play football... so what motivation is there for us to sell him? none!! plus this whole story is a load of dribble and nonsense!
Not sure Harry can be blamed, the transfer policy is probably one of the most transparent of all top clubs since he took charge.
BTW, the "as good as it gets" quote, that was about the 2010/11 season, surely no one really believed that he meant for the natural life of the club, right? After all it was made right after our last game of the season, even Fergie wouldn't be able to squeeze any more out of it, 5th and finishing among the top 8 clubs in Europe in first season of CL was as good as it gets, for that season
In that case maybe Luka is just misunderstood.....
Ryan.
Eat a bag of hot dicks
love
Me.
Really who the fuck cares, we got champs league without him while we got 5th with him, he isnt the heart of the team therefore. If we are desperate to keep him take a leaf out of the scums book with fabregas and give two fingers to the team that got where they are because of money.
Just want to point out that he must be as thick as fuck if he wants to join an ageing team which for the most part was level on points with spurs for the majority of the season really a club with abition; why on earth did he join spurs in the first place if he wanted champs football the top four clubs were after him anyway, begs to differ whether he is doing a rooney to boost his wages or the daily mail is simply phoning one of his family to distort the truth
why o why o why.........?
100k a week extra i think you'll find. our wage structure will
always hinder our development. need larger stadium to earn the cash to
pay the higher wages. modders, do u mean your lower wages (compared to top 4) show lack in ambition? until we secure substantially higher revenues thru our turnstiles
our wage structure will always prove definative in a players decision-making when those clubs
who payout seriously inhumane salaries come knocking.
totally understand him and we must move on and rebuild if he goes. makes me sick but we must be realistic. world class players will only stay on lower wages up to a point, and i hate to say it but i think Luka's reached his.
He wants to go, sell him! End of
fake report
some of us are in denial. the lad is as good as gone. just how much are we going to get
ship him of to Atletico Madrid, ask them to send Kun Aguero the other way
Well, I didn't see this coming. Easy solution: Chairman goes public - Luka will cost 50m. If you want him, pay it by end of June. If no one pays it, Luka stays (happy or otherwise).
Modric is not worth much more than Chelsea offered. Silva of Manchester City is a better player and he cost them 25m.
But I do hope Spurs get a good price for him. After all, their love and development has helped turn him into the trophy-winning player he is sure to be at Chelsea. This contribution by Spurs to the player's quality and thus to his winning of future Chelsea trophies must never be underestimated. I for one will sip a toast to Spurs fans every time Modric gets a medal, in recognition of the love and support they gave him during his informative couple of seasons in the Premier League. I believe in giving proper credit where it is due, and if Chelsea win the Premiership or Champions League with Modric playing a major part, I will be the first to recognise the part Tottenham played in it.
Ok, gutted that he wants to leave - if true & not just paper talk , but there will be life without luka as we see as man u with ronaldo !
One player doesn't make a team . 35-40 in the coffers & a clean out of the loan players & a striker or two & that should be a tidy sum to improve throughout & balance the loss him ! Would rather we made him stay - as he was the one who just signed for 6 years ! He'll be worth the same this time next year and if he plays up we can afford 40k a week for a youth player ;) coys
Sir Cecil - Silva is a better player? Really?
You clearly haven't watched much Tottenham this season, and you clearly didn't watch Silva until January!
For a start, they are completely different! Silva is an attacking midfielder, a playmaker who constantly creates chances for the strikers.
Modric is a centre midfielder. He dictates the pace of the game, plays inch-perfect short passes, incredible long passes to the wingers, defends and wins the ball with big tackles regularly....the list goes on.
Modric is worth at the very least, 35 million. He has about 5 years left on his contract for f*cks sake!
levy, redknapp stand your ground.
we cant sell to a team we'r compeating for the top 4 with it just dont make sense.
sell him abroad not to an english club.
if we do sell him then sorry we are a selling club and just a stepping stone for players.
we dont have to sell so dont, if he wants to leave,make him stay by putting a 50mill price tag on him.
oh luka what have you done.
instead of coming out and saying i want to stay at the club, you do a berba and now your gonna be hated as much as him.
and to want to join our london rivals....well that one be forgiven.
but in levy i trust...he's not stupid,he's probably the most smartest chairman in the premier league and i know he will stand his ground on this one
The Dail Mail ... yea right, you believe that pile of shit do u?
It's heartbreaking, I'm trying to look at it the best possible way which is naive I know. Ive just read a similar article on the telegraph website (also claiming EXCLUSIVE) and there's alot more quotes from this chat with luka he goes on to say it has to be good for the club, to speak to the chairman first to see the clubs thougtts and that if he leaves it's not just to leave tottenham it has to be for a really big club. I'm assuming he hasn't had time to speak to levy and harry yet so there's a chance they can convince him to stay for a year to give it another go to get champions league again then if fail we will allow him to go. If they manage to get him to stay levy needs to show his intent by buying some players of similar quality or of the promise he showed when we signed him, a striker is a must if they had just done what everyone in the world could see we were crying out for in january and sign a quality striker no matter what the cost I am adamant we would be looking forward to another year of champions league football.
I agree with the post above that we should also if we have to sell look to sell abroad fuck what he wants, fergie does it all the time we should not be selling to anyone in englad even if it means £10million off the transfer fee, no way should be strengthening those around us with our best player whilst weakening ourselves.
If Modric got injured for another season, Spurs wouldn't go bust! So, not selling him for another season shouldn't do too much damage either.
What annoys me, is Kranjcar could've slotted perfectly into the gap left by Modric (and Kranjcar scores goals), but 'Arry has treated him like shite and Kranjcar has got a GENUINE reason for wanting to leave Spurs. If Redknapp gave Kranjcar a little more respect then we could have had the perfect replacement AND £45 M to go and buy a World Class striker.
Seems now, we've lost one brilliant, goal scoring Croat and one Chelsea bound (S)croat.
That song's been completely ruined for me now, bastard.
i don't really want this to happen but i can see his point, in the january window we needed a striker bad, chelsea were desperate to try and win the prem and champions league and got torres(although he was shit) liverpool went out and got carrol and suarez, we supposedly tried to sign a rake of strikers for £25 mil ? and end up on deadline day trying to sign adams and 34y,o nevilleand now there's talk of man u crock rio the plan for the new ground were draw up about 2 years ago and not a brick has been layed with all the crapp about th olimpic stadium it will be another 10 years before we get a new place.
Please, calm down people. I'm a Croatian who's been following Luka's career since his teenage days. From all that I've learn about him from these years I am certain that this article in the Mail is completely fabricated bullsh..t.
I expect statement from Luka which will prove my claims.
I hope Levy has already been on the phone to him to clarify what he said and what he wants, then to persuade him to stay.
Of course this conversation may have happened days or weeks ago and we may be prepared and have a strategy in place (ie replacement in mind).
If he cant sell him the benefits of staying for another year, then we should just set a price and tell Chelsea to match it if they want him, based on the recent prices for Torres, Carroll, Henderson etc.
I cant say I'm disappointed in Luka - its what footballers do. Although I fully understand everyone wanting to let off steam, I am sure the club will deal with it calmly. I am certainly trying to remain calm because if he stays I dont want to think any less of him.
It happened to Manu with Rooney recently but they had the resources to keep him. I think the fans still respect him.
I responded to the 'Daily Mail' with some 'boiler suit' language earlier in the week and I am now banned from commenting on any of their 'Associated Newspapers Ltd Rags'. Fuck Them. They have a ringer inside who is being paid to put these stories about as though there absolute face. Modric probably is not being quoted 'word for word'. Well the fact is that if Modric leaves so will Harry. He said so. So there would be a cloud with a silver lining. He has no ambition and feels as though we have gone as far as he can take us. Well he should have ensured we got CL football this season. If Luca goes, and I think we'll keep him for another season, then Harry must go.
In the past 20 years what have we won?
Don't blame players for being more ambitious than the chairman and manager. Last season Harry practically had an orgasm over Chelsea and how good they were.
As the saying goes don't hate the player...........
There's a simple to Luca, if this is true. You are not signing for Chelsea, Man U, Man C , Liverpool or Arsenal. Now take your pick of the European Clubs. Man C wouldn't let a player the wanted rid of last season (Bellamy) go to any of their rivals. Why should we weaken ourselves and strengthen Chelsea. No. Levy cannot allow this to happen. Luca can 'bog off' if he thinks he will be facilitated in this way. There's No WAY it's happening.
Oh yeah, the whole "Daily Mail Modric Saga" is nothing but theatre created by the Daily Fail, have no doubt of that. Well, you've gotta, else Spooks will be topping himself when we bring Parker in to replace him. :-D