Tottenham Hotspur face a battle to hang onto their star midfielder this summer.
As much as Daniel Levy will posture, and deny, that Tottenham will sell their star players this summer, hanging onto Luka Modric will likely be a tougher proposition than any other.
The Spurs chairman played hardball with the Croatian last summer – stopping him joining Chelsea.
Instead of being part of the Champions League winning Blues side on Saturday night, he could do nothing but watch on from afar as his Tottenham side were condemned to the Europa League for next season by Chelsea’s success.
We don’t see Levy signing off on a Bale sale, but if Modric wants to go, which he almost certainly will do, they might as well cash in and get a ridiculously high price.
The big question then would be, where to?
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Now this is where our theory comes in; we don’t believe the Croatian will be seen in the Premier League at all next season.
If Tottenham are going to have to begrudgingly weaken their side, why strengthen a rival too? It would be twice the blow.
Chelsea, Manchester United, and perhaps Manchester City too, will all be interested, but Levy should make sure a sale is engineered so that Modric plays abroad in 2012-13.
In the Sunday papers, Real Madrid were linked with making a bid for him. This would surely be far more amenable to fans. Surely the Tottenham chairman can see this too?
Supporters are hurting, they see gloating rival fans wherever they look, they don’t need one of their best players adding to the pain by joining a competitor.
Modric spoke last week of his ambition, and if Spurs can’t match it, then they should get a high price for him, and reinvest their squad to make it even better.
If some of the silly figures quoted in connection with Modric can be secured for his sale, then Spurs could potentially sign two or three top level players to replace him, and actually use the opportunity to improve their team and squad.
There is no need to have an unhappy player hanging around. His early season sulk cast a cloud over Tottenham’s season in August, and looking back, perhaps they could have secured a valuable point or two rather than slipping to defeats, which would have proved vital in the race for third.
If he starts making more noises about wanting out, Spurs should him packing to La Liga, Serie A or even Russia. It shouldn’t really matter where, so long as it is not to a rival Premier League club.
Do you agree? Should Spurs sell Modric to a team overseas?
image: © apasciuto
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