Luka Modric has been doubted at almost every step of his magnificent career, but only now is the midfielder being properly appreciated.
Every club has them. They can be tiresome and often exaggerated, but sometimes, stories of failed bids for players in years gone by can tell a lot about attitudes. That is certainly the case with the tale of trophy-laden superstar midfielder Luka Modric and Newcastle United, circa 2008.
In his most recent autobiography, My Life In Football, Kevin Keegan details his hellish second spell in charge at St James’ Park. He was lured back by the promise of picking up where he’d left off in the 1990s, when he oversaw the most famous group of ‘nearly men’ in modern English football, all the while creating one of the most scintillating teams, backed by a region that treated him and his players like Gods. But the reality this time around, under new owner Mike Ashley, was an elaborate con; Keegan was being used and abused by a regime he would later make proven liars of in court.
Months after Modric had helped Croatia stun England by extinguishing their hopes of qualifying for the European Championships, on a pitch at Wembley which Keegan compared to one from the 1970s but claimed the midfielder glided across as if it were a bowling green, he was heavily linked with a move to the Premier League. At 22, he was looking to leave Dinamo Zagreb and take the next step. His price tag was £16m, a drop in the ocean now but a hefty sum 14 years ago. Tottenham were leading the charge.
The player’s agent, a self-confessed Keegan fan, instigated the conversation to see if Newcastle would be interested. It was at that meeting where everything went wrong: an Ashley associate and board member, Tony Jimenez, disregarded Modric’s physicality and ability to make the step up in England. It was a tired excuse for the lack of ambition that became Ashley’s staple, but also a wildly ridiculous opinion to hold even then. Modric would go on to Spurs…
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