Modric gone
Monday, August 27, 2012 at 9:19AM From the official Spurs website:
CLUB ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT WITH REAL MADRID AND TRANSFER OF LUKA MODRIC
The Club can announce that it has signed a partnership agreement with Real Madrid FC and reached agreement for the transfer of Luka Modric, subject to medical, to the Spanish club.
The partnership agreement will see the two Clubs working together in respect of players, coaching, best practices and commercial relationships.
Real Madrid FC President, Florentino Perez Rodriguez, said, "The strong relationship and affinity between our two clubs has resulted in the cementing of a longer-term partnership and the successful transfer of Luka Modric. We are delighted to welcome Luka and look forward to working closely with Tottenham in the coming years."
Daniel Levy, Chairman, Tottenham Hotspur, commented, "Luka has been a terrific player for us and, whilst we preferred not to part with him, we are pleased that it is to Real Madrid, a club with which we now look forward to sharing a long and productive partnership."
Luka made 160 appearances for the Club, scoring 17 goals after joining from Dinamo Zagreb in the summer of 2008.
We wish him well for the future.
I do love how the partnership gets top billing ahead of the fact we've finally sold Luka Modric. Will be interesting to see exactly what this entails even though they cite players/coaching/commercial as the basis of the partnership. Working closely with Tottenham in the coming years sounds like we're going to go through further protracted long running transfer sagas. Barca will be gutted, looks like Bale has a moved pencilled in to Madrid next summer. Sorry United, but your days of signing are best players are over. Feeder club? Loan deals? Or another relationship similar to the rather confusing one we have Internacional? Hopefully they (Madrid) will be supportive in terms of aiding us when purchasing South American players (what with the complexities of visa approvals). Otherwise, you'd think this was clearly a one-sided relationship. Madrid will always seek to sign our best players, we'll always end up with their young players/loan deals/unwanted ones. We'll see.
Does beg the question that this 'saga' hasn't been half as dramatic behind closed doors compared to the manner it's been covered in the media. Deal probably agreed a while back, hence the lack of crying from Luka/agent. With money in the bank, I assume it means the replacement is done and dusted. So imminent arrivals to the Lane, I expect.
Onwards. Good bye and good luck Luka. You were a wonderful player, a truly gifted one. Hope you don't warm the bench in Madrid but set the pitch on fire.
Not literally of course, that would be hazardous. And a red card offence.
Reader Comments (48)
Finally
He didn't want to play for us any more so bye bye
Dont care if he success or not @ RM. He made his choice now he lives with the consequences.
Its good- bye but with no thanks
Wow Spooky, Levy surely pulled the rabbit out of the hat with that commercial agreement!
Perhaps we can get some players in on loan, and spend all the rest of money in hand, on 3 top,top players !
I am glad that I am on record withholding my judgement on Levy until the transfer window close down.
Let the transfer fun begin !
COYS
I don't go along with the baying for Modders blood and or head. He performed great for us and WAS loved by the THFC faithfull. So, he wants to go to another club and win stuff, big deal, we don't have a devine right to keep players all their playing days. Good luck Luka, you'll do OK.
So who's coming in who we'll hate in a couple of years 'cause he wants out!!!!!
Only two games into the new season and the bookmakers have already slashed the odds of AVB to be the next manager to leave his post.
VHe is now as short as 8/1 to be gone next, though he can be backed at 12/1 with Stan James and those odds do seem like a harsh judgement on the man that was a massive 25/1 just nine days ago.
Real Madrid: hence the all white kit, when was that decision made?
If we have such a cosy relationship with RM how come Sahin went to Liverpool?
A great player has left us to go to one of the world's greatest clubs. This transfer says a lot about how far THFC have progressed over recent years and it also signals the end of us selling are best players to another Premiership club. Although the first two results this season haven't been great, these are exciting times at Spurs and I really believe we are moving upwards.
Modric gone and still Levy's up to his old tricks. Is the man demented? Shakhtar want £20mil for Willian, Levy offers £11.8. No wonder clubs get pissed off with the way Spurs do their business. Why not be straight up and offer £15mil job done. We know levy likes a bargain but he can't have it both ways....or perhaps he can! Get Willian and then try for Dembele who was superb against MU. He is the equivalent to our Huddlestone but with speed and mobility.
Sad to see him go, but I'm happy that we had him for the few years which we did. He will be missed.
I see the best practise bit of the agreement has got off to an excellent start. Real lost of the weekend and are now 5 points behind Barca!!!
He never could have a significant impact on us and help us winning important or not games.
He never won a game for us just only with his personal performance specially if we take into consideration that he was occupied an important position in our team.
A position that gives the opportunity to an able player to create vital assists in every game and not once every ten games and to score important and match winning goals or to take effectively free kicks on set pieces or/and convert penalty shoots.
He never has been to us a Gerrard, a Lampard, a Scholes, a Schneider, a Totti, a Pirlo, a Zeedorf, just to mention some players playing in almost similar positions who had a great and effective impact on their teams.
Let's hope that Spurs will be able to find a useful replacement.
A player who will be able to help indeed Spurs win games and will have a more effective impact.
I hope that this cooperation agreement between the two clubs it will be beneficial indeed to Spurs.
If 11.3 is the sort of bid Levy will be making in the next few days i doubt we will see anyone come in.That is a lot of money if you are talking about some 17yr old but not Willian.The clubs are so far apart i cannot see them getting a deal done if these figures are to be believed.I have backed Levy in the past but here is the man Levy wanted at the club and he still won't spend the money to help him.If after the window closes and we don't get the players we need and thinks do start going wrong i hope the fans remember why.Spend the money DL and give AVB a chance like he never had at Chelski.Roll on Friday.Just a thought but i think the worst signing we ever made was VDV because we got him so cheap and so late that Levy now thinks its the way to go.VDV was a one off never to happen again.Levy it is you who will be judged this season not AVB.
There is no "partnership". It's just the usual kind of waffle that sees one club have first option on a couple of juniors in the future, like Chelsea have done in South America. Such minor little agreements usually pass without notice, but Levy is desperate to save face after having to let Modric go for less than he could have got last year, and 10 million+ below what he was demanding this year. So he's making a big noise about a "partnership". Suckers. Levy plays you like twelve year-olds.
Every player we are looking at has been scouted to death. It's not a matter of whether he is good enough, will he fit, is he creative enough, etc. We have a volume of books on every single player currently being discussed. IT boils down to one thing now, CASH!! And now Mr. levy, it's down to you, not us not AVB but you and you alone!!!f
Now it is time to start buying a replacement,Shakhtar just turned down a £11.8m offer for Willian.
soccerstronghold All the football news,football transfers, wonderkids and football videos in one place
IoanX You haven't a clue what you are talking about, have you ever watched Modric play?
I hope Luka gets games otherwise I can see a cut price move back to the prem next summer.
Goodbye Moddle - an excellent player but not a great one. It's going to be a fascinating ride for the next few days...
I expect RM will let us play our home games in their stadium now thus avoiding spending on a new one here.
What a load of commercial BS from the great Levy.
As mentioned above, our relationship is so special that Sahin has gone to Liverpool on loan.
And it will remain special until they have signed Bale next season, maybe Walker as well (but unlikely, not good enough).
The Madrid Board have pride in their club and know how to get things done and that's the difference between them and us. They know the team on the pitch is the most important asset they have and they make sure they spend to keep it top-class.
I could agree with you Hot_Spur if you remind me a game he has won for us like the players I have mentioned did for their teams.
Or at least ten games where he was the best player of Spurs on the field.
Neither was he a “leader”.
And never he will be.
He wasn't born with such a character and personality.
I only want the very best for my club.
To me only effective players count.
If Sahin was that good, he wouldn't be released by Madrid and then replaced by Modders. Sorry, don't go along with the Sahin's great either!!!! Let the scousers have him, if AVB HAD wanted him, he would be targeted. We are not media driven like a lot of so called fans think!!!
I am embarressed! We have become a feeder club and breaking announcement " Levy cost Spurs 13m" We could of taken 40m last lasy and then this year we get 27m plus ad ons. Levy out Levy out....
It's pretty obvious RM are taking Levy for a ride. But then again Levy knows Bale is off next season so he would rather sell to RM than MU.
let's be honest, we have no chance, on the pitch, off the pitch, Cash, stadium, the lot. Ae are way behind and what we need to do is accept that to reach the heights of others, we will simply need a mega rich Ruski or Arab come over the hill and pay off ENIC or, we simply suffer for the next 10 years whilst the stadium is built, then another 10 years to build a team.
No matt what we say here, this is the fact, so as they say, deal with it, it's pretty black and white!!!
au revoir modders.... enjoy the bench warming and thanks for all the fish
The 'partnership' is the new Fraizer Campbell. Useless crumbs used to fob off the great Levy, which he in turn makes a meal of.
Does anyone know how much rat face actually went for, rather than newspaper guessing games?
Thank you Luka and good luck with Madrid. It was good while it lasted to see a genuine world class midfielder, at the peak of his form, playing for us. I won't forget the game against Man U last season when a Spurs midfield, inspired by you, dominated them in a way that we rarely do. You will be missed!
Looking forward to the future without Modric, the Liverpool game showed the high pressing and possession game that AVB is trying to get us to adopt. It's pretty obvious to anyone watching the game that the advantage of that style means we will retain more of the ball and win it higher up the pitch, before defences have the chance to set themselves. The transition to this style will not come easy. Like it or not, it will mean that players like Jenas with his pace and athleticism will be better suited to it than someone more technically gifted like Huddlestone. It will mean no more "Hoof it up to the big man" tactics, so ball playing centre backs are in to prevent Skrtel type errors. Not all of the pieces are in place yet, we're back to being a work in progress. So fasten your seat belt, dig out your crash helmet and hold on tight. After all, this is Tottenham, the ride of you life, and no one said it was going to be easy !!
Wonder if that means that when André Villas-Boas gets the bullet in 2 months time, José Mourinho will immediately fill his size threes!
Thanks, Luka. Hope it all goes well for you at RM.
It's good that we signed him up when that lot down the road thought him light-weight and unable to play in the premiership. Spurs and the team-mates around him allowed him to exhibit his calm possessive brilliance and eye for the creative pass. He helped us showcase our club at the highest level. No wonder others coveted him. I'm proud when our player ends up at Real Madrid and not at the snivelling competition up (and down) the road. Or hid under a blanket in the back seat of a Mancunian car like some cheap slag.
Thanks and Hasta la Vista.
Onwards Spurs. Onwards and may, one day, all our players are coveted by others!
"Wow Spooky, Levy surely pulled the rabbit out of the hat with that commercial agreement!" Allan
Rabbit? More like a mole rat! ( see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole_rat ). As Spooky says, we will have to wait and see what we get out of this. Sounds to me like top quality bullshit served hot and steamy. I can hear the conversation now:
Rodriguez: Daniel, can you fax me over a list of your best players and their medical reports.
Daniel: Be a pleasure Senior Rodriguez.
Rodriguez: Daniel, can you take a young Brazilian kid and train him up til we need him.
Daniel: That's what we're here for Florentino.
Rodriguez: That's Senior Rodriguez to you Danny boy.
Daniel: Eh yes Senior Rodriguez, of course sir. Whilst you are on the phone can we......(phone goes dead)
@Jack
It is your right to load your mind with negative thoughts, - I for one think that this commercial agreement will turn out to be positive for us... Booing our players and negative thoughts, is excactly what our beloved club does not need at this time.Rather we should all get behind our management team and players !
Positive thoughts Love The Shirt !
Allan- I for one haven't booed a player since Kanoute feigned injury when we were attacking, but in real terms what Jack is saying will play out. Remember we have one of Spains ex hotest properties in our ranks Iago who along with Bojan were supposed to be the next best thing, I cannot see this being of any real benefit to Spurs.
So now is a huge moment in Spurs future.
The squad is very good but not great, we need a top class striker, a top class midfielder and goalie and then we have a chance of greatness.
If Levy doesnt pay top dollar for top players then we will linger in mediocrity for the next 4 years or more and we will DEF lose Bale next year.
So Mr Levy are you going to do what you haven't done this past 4 years and make pony bids for top class players or are you going to put the money down and start playing with the big boys?????
It's down to you Daniel, I don't hold much hope but lets see what happens on Friday, but I think you will let us down as you always do on deadline day.
WHERES THE DOSH DANIEL??????????
@Allan Absolutely we all have the right to express our opinions and I would have thought the inherent humour in my response should be a clue that I am not just a whinger. But my point is based on the simple fact of life that the powerful exploit weaker members of society. Not a theory, not an airy fairy idea but a day to day reality of life; those with power use it to their advantage and disadvantage others in that process. Real Madrid are either the biggest club the world or the second biggest club in the world depending on whether you are from Manchester. We are simply not in their league, we do not have their power and therefore we have to be the junior member of any partnership.
Bend over and grit your teeth because the outcome is inevitable.
@Allan Oh yeah and I don't boo players, I have never booed players and I agree that such behaviour does not help your team. Being critical of management though, well if we are not allowed to criticise then we no longer have any relevance to the board other than consumer cattle to be herded and culled as and when required.
@Jack
I do not think you are a whinger and looking purely on the phone conversation between Levy and Rodriguez, - I indeed found it quite funny. Now we of course do not know the terms of the commercial between the two clubs. However as you yourself rightly state, - Real Madrid is most probably the biggest club in the world, therefore I quite frankly thinks that we can gain hugely as far as having a working relation with them, ei coaching knowledge, - player exchange, commercial right and so forth. Also I do not think that this arrangement only was meant as a face saving factor for Levy. At this present time we do not know the excact price we got from Modders, - and I will be very surprised if Levy let him go for under £ 35 mill! Many a time Levy has driven me nuts with his last minute dealings, but you have to addmit that he is a very clever businessman. Furthermore I am on record saying that I will withhold my judgement on Levy until the transfer window closes. 5 days left Hopefully this time around Levy will back AVB and get the much needed additions in! All the best Jack !
Partnership.
Or translated: Madrid will be raping us of Bale, Sandra and any other player that may come through over the coming seasons.
Hope Modders breaks his leg in his first game, little lesbian faced scumbag cunt. And Levy can fucking do one too.
Do not understand the Levy hate. At all. STADIUM STADIUM STADIUM. That is why we cant pay the wages and transfer fees. THAT IS THE PRIORITY. We have to push these deals to eek out every bloody pound because we are NOT FUNDED BY A F****** oil billionaire and we are paying for an expensive stadium. Get with the programme. Had it with our goddamn ignorant fans. Do you see where we are now? do you see where we were in the 90s? In summary "stupid Levy is trying to plan for the long term rather than spunking money on a few prospects, I demand that he leave the club that he owns and has spent millions to bring to the top table". You do not deserve the quality of chairman we have. Go and support portsmouth/Leeds(circa 2001), they follow your financial model.
JC - touché
Let's deal with facts not spin.
A partnership with Real Madrid...mmm...indeed.
It is clear then that they regard us as either a current or potential threat to them and the elite level in Europe. Unless Levy is so smart and so clever that Madrid are about to be hoodwinked and we will quickly move up alongside them into the elite level all the while taking advantage of our partnership with Madrid....
Pigs flying and eat my shoe come to mind if that happened.
oh, new stadium. world class this and that. more spin...indeed.
No world class players.
we do have press releases about everything except players.
See Stratford stadium and related nonsense/press release for earlier example of bullshit and spin that Levy mistakes for progress on the pitch.
Enough.
I feel good about the partnership - at least from this day on we will be butt fcuked out of our best players by consent.
I used to feel dirty for months when we were repatedly raped by Fergie.
Did anyone forget the similar "partnership" Levy struck in Brazil with the International FC when we signed Sandro? According to this "partnership", as it was explained at that time, we'd have first choice of buying their players? How that Levy's "partnership" played out in our intent to get Leandro?
It's all BS from Levy to appease and confuse knuckleheads, I guess. I do not buy this BS served the second time around.
Also, it is time to think of another animal "resembling" Bale to treat him when he makes attempt to leave Spurs. Hurry up you hateful morons because you have only one year left to rake your pigeon brain with this idea. I'll give you a hint….monkey-faced Welsh back-stabbing cunt?
And, from me - farewell Luka. It was special seeing you in Spurs shirt and enjoying your magic. Many Spurs faithful will forever remember success of the club when you played and were pulling the strings. I hope this success of the club will be repeated and possibly exceeded in my lifetime.
@beetleblues
You`ve just hit the Tottenham fan`s paradox on the head.
I`m gobsmacked at how Lennon Defoe Dawson etc are slated - cut `em in half and see Spurs stamped through them. Maybe not the best players in the world, but look at fat frank john t***y etc. Also limited but when the fans tap into their love for the club they are prepared to sweat blood. On the other hand, class players like Bale are prohibited from becoming Tottenham legends because of this pathetic inferiority complex that prevents the `fans` from taking them properly to their hearts through fear that they will one day leave the club. Who could blame them if they feel the negative vibes?
What's all this "Thanks Luka for the memories crap." Where was Luka two seasons ago with 10/12 games to go? He went missing.
Where was Luka towards the end of last season? Hello, that's right, he threw his toys out of the pram again and went AWOL.
If you compare Luka with the likes of Lampard, he doesn't even come close to goals scored, assists, etc etc. For all the hype, season on season, what has Modric done to be acredited such acclaim? Sorry, I just don't get it. 30 odd million! Thank you and goodnight. Modric will be in and out of the Madrid team and will move on within two seasons.
This is off topic, but if Liverpool are throwing 17 yr old Raheem Sterling into a game against the league champs, what keeps us from bringing up Coulibaly?? Not that I wouldn't like to see Damiao in the squad, it seems that Internacional have slapped a price tag on him well above the feeder club range.
I see Lloris and Dembele coming in, Willian though looks a bit overrated. Who knows, maybe he is ready for the EPL. He is more a Giovani style player competing with VDV for a place not a Luka style player whos closest replacement is Moutinho.
I think we need to be patient. It is a long season. Our current squad is quite good. We have the one of the hottest players in the 2nd half of league season in our squad now (Gylfi) and we are basically same team as last years 4th place and with a few more additions, whomever that may be, we will play better once squad is settled Friday.
Really depends on how good our youth players actually are and I'd hazard a guess most would not make the grade currently. Also, what Liverpool are doing (granted, that Sterling might actually be a talent) is no different to the days when we did throw youth into the first team. I remember how that all ended. The 90's were dark times.
In summary to "OTN's" expressed opinion Levy is a genius for fucking up Real Madrid by selling them a mug for 30 mils. Just a year ago the same Chelsea that had Lampard (according to "OTN" superior to Luca in all depts.) were stupid enough to offer 40 mil for the same mug. However, thanks to Levy's good heart he refused to rob them. Is this how it all played out?
By the same "OTNs" logic of questioning, "where was Luca bla, bla, bla", one can ask where was Lampard last season when we finished above them? Did he throw his toys out of the pram and went AWOL?
I guess, for some people it is easy to throw shit at anyone regardless if warranted or not; simply reach back to dig it out and fling it.
It just shows that no two pair of eyes sees anything the same way; it is rather a rainbow of views.
Although Luca 's Spurs time is history now, I tend to recall mostly good things about him.
@Allan All the best to you as well
Some of the comments on here are just depressing to read. To add some balance, chalk me up on the side of happy Modric played for us, ok with him moving onto a bigger club.
For those criticising Levy's decision not to sell Modric last year, my understanding the offer was 30 million plus Alex (valued at 10 million). They later accepted offers for Alex at 3 or so million. So we got:
1) Another year of Modric playing at the Lane
2) Not having to play against him in the league
3) Signals to the ManUs/Chelseas that we aren't going to just drop our trousers on command anymore
4) ABOUT THE SAME CASH ANYWAY
I'm actually interested to see how he performs at Real, and I'm wondering if he will now turn into the goal scoring midfielder that we always hoped he could be for us. Love to watch him play, but as some others have mentioned, he never really took control of a match or scored tons of goals in a way that would really have made him a truly great player.
I wish Luka well and thank him for the great moments he provided. There's a lot of anger around here and much of it is contradictory: Luka was shit anyway but what a bastard for leaving US (even though it's OK to call him rat-face). We need to spend loads of money and get really great players in, even though we can't attract top players because we can't pay their salaries, let alone their transfer fees - and it's all Dan's fault for not buying players even though he's delivered some great buys that have kept us in the hunt with teams that can outbid us easily; look at Chelsea's buys this summer - we would be happy with any one of those midfielders. Until we get the big crowds we will continue as we do. Players will come to us because we have a good training set-up and play attractive football, just as Luka came and loved it - you can see it on his face in the you-tube videos, but it was a stepping stone unless we got Champions League regularly, and we didn't.
Now .... we start again; we find other players and take them forward so they can take us forward ....... it may work; it may not. But all the other screaming anger, slagging off unsuitable scapegoats and buying ideas are just Football Manager fantasies and indications of frustration. It will be hard, success is not certain, but still, the ONLY way is to get behind the team and blow the ball into our opponents' net. COYS!!
Dembele is a great signing. Not as good as Modric, but the closest player in the league outside of Chelsea and Man City (Sahin notwithstanding). Bit more strength, bit less passing range. Someone for Vertonghen to talk to as well!