Why Modric should put up or shut up
He clearly wants to go and, no offence spurs fans, you can see his point. He wants to win numerous trophies and continually be lauded as one of the best players in the world. Regardless of whether that will happen to him at Tottenham or not, we can be sure that, from the trophies side of things at least, he will almost definitely achieve this at Chelsea. So his position is somewhat understandable although it probably could have been handled better. This brings me to the crux of the article.
He clearly wants to leave Spurs as otherwise he would leave out the continual hints at leaving, brush off the rumours as mere speculation and possibly sign a new contract to prove his dedication. However he has not done this, and as for what he has done; well there’s barely anything to talk about apart from his ‘withering attack’ on Levy. Luka said “I must say that I am genuinely disappointed about what Levy said to me. He didn’t care about what I was telling him. It all only convinced me further that I was right to consider moving on to another club.” This is hardly going to endear to the Spurs fans, indeed there are many already burning their proverbial bridges (and their replica shirts) with him and starting to think of new players that Harry should sign. This statement is so close to a transfer request that I can’t think what he now has to lose by handing one in.
Without formally submitting a written transfer request however he can’t 100% confirm an interest in leaving which puts him in a very dangerous state of limbo. Does he think that if he leaves without handing in a transfer request fans will be happy about the move and wish him well? Of course they won’t. Does he think that playing hard to get with Chelsea will make them want him more? In reality of course not, they’ll just turn to other targets. So what is he trying to achieve? He can’t maintain a (albeit withering) plant of spurs fans happiness while with the other hand search for a new happiness plant to grow. The spurs fans now know he wants to leave so what has he got lose by handing in a transfer request? Any other sly hint at leaving will just be disrespectful to Tottenham fans.
Furthermore, by not handing in a transfer request he risks alienating himself from Chelsea and their new manager André Villas-Boas. While Villas-Boas has not definitively come out and said he wants Modric, it is thought that Modric is high on his so called ‘wish list’. However if Modric does not act soon, he risks Chelsea losing patience and moving to other targets such as highly rated Argentine Javier Pastore. As for other clubs, it is believed that Modric does not want to uproot himself from London and with Arsenal not expressing any sort of interest; it leaves him a bit short of options unless he fancies Fulham or QPR. Surely then it makes sense for Mr Modric to just submit a transfer request, move to Chelsea and then move on in his life.
However, there may be reasons why Luka Modric is reluctant to hand in a transfer request. Paramount upon these options is quite possibly a personal reason to keep his reputation clean. He is well known as a hard working, honest figure who, in Harry’s words, “he’ll never cause any trouble”. It may well be that he is not handing in a transfer request to try and keep his reputation clean.
Saying that, however, is unfair as we do not have a clear insight into the mans life or personality. Another possible reason he is not handing in a transfer request is that he does not want to damage his relationship with the spurs fans anymore. Of course, there are spurs fans who feel that the relationship has been damaged beyond repair already and if this is true then Modric would be better served handing in a transfer request as the fans aren’t going to be happy with him whatever happens.
Then of course there are the threats. He has been threatened by Levy with reserve team football, which to me seems strange as surely Spurs would be better off selling him and pocketing the money than paying his wages while he despondently plays his way through a season of reserve level football. However that is beside the point. He must worry about his future if he hands in a transfer request and the move does not come about. Will he allowed to retract it? If not, does he face a season of reserve football?
Modric’s problem in this situation seems to be that he is too nice to hand in a transfer request. However by not doing this, he risks a truly awful backlash if the move does not get completed which if he does not hand in a transfer request may well happen. So putting it simply he needs to man up and tell Tottenham what he truly thinks.
