Can Sigurdsson replace Modric?

It almost seems inevitable, as we draw to within a week of the start of the new season, that Luka Modric will leave Spurs. Levy may hold out for as long as he wants and as much money as he wants, but I firmly believe that he will sell. Modric won’t play the Newcastle or the West Brom games, and then we will sell him for upwards of £35m – a good deal and an £18m profit on what we brought him for. But we can’t hide from the issue that he is a great player and that without him last season we would have struggled to make the top 6. So can Gylfi Sigurdsson, newly signed by AVB in July, replace him?

In terms of position, Sigi could slot quite nicely and effectively into the position where Modric played for us last season, a central, roaming midfielder liable for stringing passes together, playing delightful passes and making assists. We saw clearly from Sigi’s loan at Swansea that he is the type of player who is capable of producing those moments of magic needed to score goals, either for him or for his teammates. He could easily slip into the role of being the heartbeat of team going forward.

And looking at the goals and assists that Gylfi provided last season compared to Modric, Sigi scored 7 times and created 3 goals, but Luka only managed 4 goals and 4 assists. And Sigi played much less – 1719 minutes less of EPL football to be precise (almost 19 full matches). Although Modric admittedly did have a huge part to play in many of our goals last season, even if he didn’t get the final or penultimate touch, the same can be said about Sigi, surely – and he was at a club who scored less goals anyway.

For however creative Modric is and for however much flair and trickery he has, Gylfi’s goal scoring rate – most of them from outside the box, key against defensive teams – along with his own creativity and flamboyance suggests that he can replace Modric in the team.

What do the fans think? Can Sigi effectively replace Modric?

By Alex Beck

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