Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, Jermain Defoe has been discussing some of the best players he ever shared the pitch with, and inevitably, he ended up speaking about Luka Modric.
The Croatian played alongside Defoe at Tottenham around about a decade ago, and the England international still maintains that he was one of his greatest ever teammates.
Defoe labelled the player Spurs sold for £30m as ‘special’ and ‘unbelievable’.
What’s been said?
Defoe discussed Modric.
“He was special, he used to do little things. I remember a goal I scored against Portsmouth, he had the ball on his right foot, he turned to shoot and he just touched it to me with the outside of his left foot for me to finish. It was unbelievable, his weight of pass. He played it softly for me to play it first time, he was an unbelievable player,” Defoe said.
One of the best ever
Defoe says that Modric was a special teammate, but we’ll go one further. He’s one of the greatest midfielders of all-time.
Whether you agree with the decision to award him the Ballon d’Or in 2018 or not, he’s still the only player in the last 14 years not named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to win that award, and he’s been the lynchpin in the most successful club side of the last decade – winning no fewer than four Champions Leagues with Real Madrid.
He’s still a top-level midfielder as well. His performance against PSG in the Champions League last month was nothing short of exceptional.
It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of Modric in the Premier League.
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