Micah Richards says Luka Modric became ‘top, top quality’ as soon as he left Tottenham Hotspur for Real Madrid in 2012, as he told BBC’s Match of the Day.
The former right-back stated that at Spurs, the Croatia midfielder was ‘amazing’, but he didn’t win anything in north London.
Since moving to Madrid, the technically-gifted midfielder has won an incredible five European Cups, including the greatest individual prize of them all, the Ballon d’Or.
Only Modric was able to sandwich himself in between the dominant era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, which just says everything you need to know about the 37-year-old midfielder.
Richards agreed that if it hadn’t been for two of the greatest of all time, then Modric probably would have had more Ballon D’or trophies in his cabinet.
“Yes, (he would have won more Ballon d’Or’s in a different era),” said Richards. “With Ronaldo and Messi dominating for years, but he did get one in 2018. He was outstanding.
“I think had he gone to Real Madrid a little bit earlier, then he probably would have had more. He was amazing at Spurs, but unfortunately, he didn’t win anything and we could see how good of a player he was.
“As soon as he went to an elite team. You could see that he was top, top quality.”
ONE MORE MAJOR TOURNAMENT FOR MODRIC?
There were some questioning if the recently-concluded 2022 Qatar World Cup was going to be Modric’s last tournament for Croatia.
But it seems as though he won’t be stopping anytime soon because the 2024 Euros are just 18 months away.
With Modric still going strong in the colours of Real Madrid, then baring injury, there’s no reason why he can’t provide one last push in Croatia trying to secure a trophy.
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