On August 27, 2012, Luka Modric was unveiled to the Real Madrid fans after making the transfer that was always his destiny.
It was clear from his performances for Tottenham and Croatia that Modric had the ability to turn out for an elite club, one capable of competing for Europe’s biggest honours.
He starred for his country as they pipped England to qualification for Euro 2008 before playing a key role in elevating Spurs to Champions League contenders for the first time in the Premier League era.
Twenty-six years old and at the peak of his powers, the time was right. Daniel Levy had fought tooth and nail to keep him, brushing off Chelsea’s interest to eventually allow the midfielder to move abroad for a £30million fee.
The Tottenham chairman spoke of hoping the move would spark “a long and productive partnership” with the La Liga giants. Whether or not that feeling was mutual in the Spanish capital, Florentino Perez and Jose Mourinho had their man.
“I pushed hard for Real Madrid to sign Modric because he had everything that we needed for the team – technique, vision and good reading of the game, quality when making decisions, quickness of thought, he can play the ball long or short, score from outside the area, he knew how to press, he is intelligent with his positioning and had intensity. We needed all of that at Real Madrid,” Mourinho later recalled in an interview with Croatian outlet Sportske Novosti.
12 years ago today, Luka Modric agreed to join Tottenham.
Would a time it would prove to be 👏pic.twitter.com/iGdlEteOnU
— GOAL (@goal) April 26, 2020
Everything looked set for Madrid to dominate for years to come.
Mourinho had knocked Barcelona off their perch, and in some style. Madrid won the 2011-12 league title with a record 100 points and 121 goals scored. They were arguably the most brutally efficient counter-attacking side in the history of the game.
An exhausted Pep Guardiola fled to New York to take a sabbatical. Barcelona had…