When Modric left Dinamo Zagreb in 2008, he had collected three league titles, three domestic trophies, one best player award, and was a Croatian international player. His hidden talent is just waiting for its time to get a place at the highest level of European football.
That year, he even flew to Barcelona. Negotiated with the club in Pep Guardiola’s first coaching year. But the club decided not to recruit him because they were satisfied with Xavi and Iniesta.
From North London, Tottenham Hotspur offered a six-year contract with a transfer fee of 16.5 million Euros, a club record at that time. Coming as an early recruit in that season, Modric failed to display the standard he had built in Croatia. Spurs never won in the first eight games of the season and the manager who recruited him, Juande Ramos was fired.
Luckily the dismissal paved the way for the inclusion of Harry Redknapp, the coach who changed his career path at Tottenham. Redknapp’s understanding of Modric’s quality made him put Modric in the deepest position in midfield. From then, until his move four years later, all of Tottenham’s attacks were under Modric’s control.
Although he didn’t win a trophy at White Hart Lane, Modric remained an inspirational figure. He brought the club to the first Champions League’s appearance in history. He totaled 160 appearances and scored 17 goals with Spurs.
In 2012, Jose Mourinho’s call from Real Madrid arrived. Tottenham accepted an El Real offer of 30 million pounds. Only in the first season, he lost the competition with Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira. He was even labeled as the worst Spanish League recruit that season.
Once again, a new coach arrived, Modric’s fortune changed. Carlo Ancelotti’s character fitted Modric, so under the Italian entrenador, Modric became the first choice and slowly became an influential player on the team.
Since Modric being part of the team, Madrid collected 12 trophies. He was nominated for the best Champions League team and received the title of the best Spanish midfielder from LFP.
The 2018 World Cup might be the place to build a monument to Croatia. Without feeling superior, Modric played with his passion, enjoying whatever he did in the field. When the ball was fed from the rig, the game ran perfectly. Modric displayed magic that not many players could show, he could slow down the tempo of the match, then divided the ball at a measurable speed.
The calm he showed in the midst of a draining Croatia trip. Despite playing up to three extra rounds, Modric remained everywhere. He wanted involvement in all situations and ran as far as his responsibilities permitted. Everyone knows, Croatia recorded its best record in the 2018 World Cup, just when its captain was Modric.
So, at the end of 2018, various kinds of awards emerged. The public urged that the dominance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi must be ended. Luka Modric was considered the right person to break the old order.
First, he has won success at Real Madrid for many years. Club World Cup, European Super Cup, Spanish Super Cup, Spanish League, and European Champions League are in the Modric’s trophy cabinet. After all, he was the brain of Madrid in all the tournaments.
Secondly, he has won the 2018 UEFA best player award. Although only the European level, this award undoubtedly becomes the main requirement for a player to win a higher level of award.
Third, once again, his masterpiece games happened with Croatia at the 2018 World Cup. If Modric did not look brilliant in midfield, almost certainly Croatia would not be able to go that far. Breaking through the final was Croatia’s highest achievement in the World Cup and Modric clearly could not be removed from the memories of the history of Croatian and the football world.
Well, history has been broken. After Ronaldo and Messi dominated the football world for the past ten years, Modric has now cut the tradition. It could be, after Modric started, in the upcoming years, there will be no more names of Messi and Ronaldo in the world’s best player exchanges…
