The transfer saga starring Luka Modric has quite rightly angered many Tottenham fans. How dare a player that Spurs have given the opportunity to showcase his skills to the world, and just a year ago signed a 6(!!) year contract demand to leave. Unfortunately in recent years we have seen this situation before, and in the 3 high profile cases (Carrick, Keane, and Berbatov) it has always concluded with the player getting their way and leaving. Thankfully Daniel Levy up until now has stood firm on his transfer policy claiming Luka is not for sale. Despite this, you only have to look to a couple of years ago when he was more than willing to sell our best players at the time. Although we were in the Champions League last season this means nothing to most mercenaries like Modric who appear to forget the reason we are no longer in the Champions League is because the PLAYERS were not good enough. For this reason his main aim next year should be to make it a priority Spurs return into
the Top 4, but I’m not naïve enough to think players have a mindset like that. Modric sentiment is similar to Aloe Blacc’s ‘I need a dollar’ but replaced the dollar with £120k a week!
Selling Modric is not something Spurs should be considering at all, however Spurs fans have to be realistic and realise there is every chance Levy will end up doing this. Bearing this in mind, I believe there is a Chelsea player Spurs will look to bring in a swap deal that could end up being very useful for the next season.
Didier Drogba
Spurs have been crying out for a new striker since last summer, and this player has been arguably the best premiership striker in recent years. With Torres at Chelsea finding it extremely hard to link up with Drogba last year, and £50 million at risk of being wasted, Chelsea may be willing to offload Drogba in order to revitalise Torres. Furthermore, Drogba has a fantastic record scoring goals against Arsenal, which is always a characteristic Spurs fans like to see in a player. Moreover, it appears if Drogba were to ever grace the lilywhite shirt it would be without Modric pulling the stings in the middle of the park for Tottenham, but we do have a player that is capable of stepping up to the plate in Tottenham’s absence.
Niko Kranjcar
This is a player that was very unfairly restricted to mainly substitute appearances in the last campaign, but still managed to score 2 goals that were winners (Modric scored 3 goals in the premiership last season). More than that Kranjcar has openly stated he is ready to fill Modric’s boots at Spurs, hence this is a footballer that is determined to succeed which can be seen by his desire to leave Spurs (last season) to further his career rather than earn more money in Modric’s case. What’s more, you only have to look to the 09/10 season when Kranjcar scored many goals from midfield as well as a handful of assists. Obviously Modric is a greater technically gifted player, but I think Kranjcar with an extended run in the side will score at least 10 goals a season in all competitions, and to only a slightly lesser extent compared to Modric be able to take a game by the scruff of its neck at centre midfield.
It is also important to remember with Drogba in the side there would be far more emphasis placed on Bale and Lennon running down the wings trying to provide service for Drogba’s exceptional aerial ability, hence Kranjcar’s role in the side would be different to Modric’s last season where we didn’t have an effective target man (Crouch’s knockdowns to VDV aside). This is not to say without Modric in the side we will become a glorified Sam Allardyce side, but the way we play will be able to represent pace and power, along with Kranjcar and VDV representing the technically gifted players in the side. We will be able to combine the advantage of having old-fashioned swashbuckling wingers along with a skilled centre forward, and still have players in the side who can play the Barcelona style of football that has worked in recent years.
By Joe Alexander
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