Luca Modric is Man Utd's number 1 target :-(

[nicdic]

We don't need to sell.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Cash in, get Carrick back and play Kranjcar in his place.

So you'd swap Luka for Carrick and the put Kranjcar in central midfield? Does this mean you'd want the superpowered combo of Kranjcar and Carrick in central midfield? Or would Carrick be a sub?

 

[nicdic]

I think he means Kranjcar on the left.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

I know what he meant, I'm just being an arse because Modric just had two unbelievable performances, his best in our colours, as a central midfielder, in high pressure matches against three man midfielders employed by two of the countries best three sides of the past decade, and that was with no regular ball winner next to him and a midfield as stretches as can be with out and out widemen on either side.

 

[bomberH]

A colleague just approached me and told me he spoke to Defoe last night (he's known him for years) and apparently when asked about Modric, Defoe said that Modric has told other squad members he wants to play for Utd, and that the squad didn't take too kindly to that.

The colleague I'm on about is 50 yrs old and a Spurs fanatic, and not a WUM as far as I'm aware. He definitely does know Defoe but whether Defoe was winding him up or not, who knows. I still don't think he'd leave for some reason, despite all that.

Oh well. Hopefully it's all shit, somehow.

 

[StartingPrice]

A colleague just approached me and told me he spoke to Defoe last night (he's known him for years) and apparently when asked about Modric, Defoe said that Modric has told other squad members he wants to play for Utd, and that the squad didn't take too kindly to that.

The colleague I'm on about is 50 yrs old and a Spurs fanatic, and not a WUM as far as I'm aware. He definitely does know Defoe but whether Defoe was winding him up or not, who knows. I still don't think he'd leave for some reason, despite all that.

Oh well. Hopefully it's all shit, somehow.

mg:

SP dons pointy Transylvanian peasant hat, and whips fellow serfs into witch-hunt fury against Bomber. Pitchfork in one hand, flaming torch in tother, I is comin' t'get ya...heretic:evil:

 

[DJS]

I wouldn't be unhappy either way to be honest - I'd be happy to keep Modric, but if he does want to go and Man U give us Carrick I'd be happy with that too.

Carrick is a very good central midfielder and arguably we might be a little bit more balanced with him in the squad...

I'd also be happy if we screwed Berbs out of them too, yeah he was unloyal but most players aren't these days and maybe he'd realise the error of his ways and that the grass isn't always greener...

Carrick would then give us more in the middle and we have Bale and Krancjar for the left in addition to very promising young talent in Rose and Townsend.

Gomes, Dawson, Corkula, Bassong, King, Bale, Huddlestone, Lennon, Palacios and Defoe are the core of the team that need to be retained.

A rejuvenated Keano (for me anyway) would also be proper nice but who knows what will happen with that.

 

[Booney]

Easy to get dispondent but passing on our players to Utd at inflated prices has proved good business for Levy in the past and I'm sure he could be tempted. Wonderfully gifted player that Modric is, I don't think he is irreplaceable.

 

[Stoof]

I'm still firmly of the opinion that Modric > Carrick.

If you search through this site, and the old one you'll probably see how much I love Carrick. And still do. So that should add some impetus to the 'better than' statement.

 

[nicdic]

I'm still firmly of the opinion that Modric > Carrick.

If you search through this site, and the old one you'll probably see how much I love Carrick. And still do. So that should add some impetus to the 'better than' statement.

Completely with you Stoof. Modric is far better, and I was a huge Carrick fan.

 

[ohwhenthespurs]

I'm still firmly of the opinion that Modric > Carrick.

If you search through this site, and the old one you'll probably see how much I love Carrick. And still do. So that should add some impetus to the 'better than' statement.

That couldn't be any closer to being my own opinion if I'd typed it myself. I think Modric is an absolutely supreme footballer and he's still only 24.

 

[AngerManagement]

Lets be honest, where we stand currently any of our players would want to play for man u unless they are very settled at the club or lack ambition to progress in their career.

While I would love to say we will soon be up there with the Utd's of this world, the fact remains since Carrick has left us he has 3 PL titles and a CL winners and runners up medal (not to mention 2 carling cups if he played in either final) point being the move was clearly great for his career in the short term and no doubt he doubled his wages.

As a result if any of our players are courted by Man U the chances are their heads will be turned. This is just the harsh reality of big fish eat little fish. It makes it very difficult for clubs like ours to break into the higher brackets of our game.

You can't be a soft touch, but also it is somewhat counter productive to end up with a player who loses focus and drive to play for your club because you denied them a move when they wanted one.

This is why we have players on long contracts though, so we have a certain amount of control. We can refuse to sell or at the very least demand silly money then it comes down to wheter the bigger wish wants to take the gamble (like Keane and Berba)

I hope Modric (and Bale for that manner) remain focused on player for our club, I'd like to think they are all very settled and excited about the challange of winning a CL spot this year and progressing for years to come...but as we saw recently this is not always the case and I would rather have players who want to play for the club.

Hopefully we will hold on to our best players, but if this becomes impossible sell for large sums and rebuild the club is bigger than any of its components.

 

[$hoguN]

Harry has said there is no chance and that Modric is happy here

 

[StartingPrice]

Lets be honest, where we stand currently any of our players would want to play for man u unless they are very settled at the club or lack ambition to progress in their career.

While I would love to say we will soon be up there with the Utd's of this world, the fact remains since Carrick has left us he has 3 PL titles and a CL winners and runners up medal (not to mention 2 carling cups if he played in either final) point being the move was clearly great for his career in the short term and no doubt he doubled his wages.

As a result if any of our players are courted by Man U the chances are their heads will be turned. This is just the harsh reality of big fish eat little fish. It makes it very difficult for clubs like ours to break into the higher brackets of our game.

You can't be a soft touch, but also it is somewhat counter productive to end up with a player who loses focus and drive to play for your club because you denied them a move when they wanted one.

This is why we have players on long contracts though, so we have a certain amount of control. We can refuse to sell or at the very least demand silly money then it comes down to wheter the bigger wish wants to take the gamble (like Keane and Berba)

I hope Modric (and Bale for that manner) remain focused on player for our club, I'd like to think they are all very settled and excited about the challange of winning a CL spot this year and progressing for years to come...but as we saw recently this is not always the case and I would rather have players who want to play for the club.

Hopefully we will hold on to our best players, but if this becomes impossible sell for large sums and rebuild the club is bigger than any of its components.

What the hop is is that our top players stay focussed, help achieve CL football, and stay at the club long enough for us to pass them going the other way. A Fergie-less United, who haven't replaced a retiring Scholes and Giggs, with the ructions around Glazer going of, and not the force in the transfer market they once were, would not be quite the attraction they are now. Whereas a CL and major trophy contending Spurs, with a new ground and training complex, and the best squad we have had for years, is certainly quite a bit more enticing.

I really doubt an eclipsed United sink be anywhere near as low as Leeds have (or Citeh did), or even as low as Liverpool look like doing. But if we can hold on to our top players long enough, and United do go into a mini-Ice Age, maybe we finally book this trend where they just have to wait until we get some top players and then poach them from us.

 

[Adam456]

Completely with you Stoof. Modric is far better, and I was a huge Carrick fan.

+1

 

[stemark44]

Modric is probably fed up getting beat by United every time we play them and in all honesty deservedly so.United are not our rivals because we can't compete with them, not yet anyway.
If we sell him we will need plenty of dosh and Harry to buy a few diamonds.

 

[alpha]

Modric is probably fed up getting beat by United every time we play them and in all honesty deservedly so.United are not our rivals because we can't compete with them, not yet anyway.
If we sell him we will need plenty of dosh and Harry to buy a few diamonds.

What a load of bollocks!

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

What a load of bollocks!

To be fair we have played them 3 times this season, lost all 3, scored 2 and conceded 8. So it is fair to say that they are better than us at the moment. I wouldn't say we can't compete with them though, we definitely have the talent to do it but the United squad have become used to figuring out how to win games ugly, or win important games. That is why they have been consistently successful. If you actually took the two sides that lined up at OT last week, the difference in terms of ability player for player is probably very small.

The longer we keep this squad together and keep battling in important situations the better they are going to get. Our squad has huge potential to grow and develop in this way and as they do we will close that gap.

 

[DJS]

What a load of bollocks!

Maybe you should back up your statement with a reason rather than just calling someone else's honest opinion bollocks?

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Modric is probably fed up getting beat by United every time we play them and in all honesty deservedly so.United are not our rivals because we can't compete with them, not yet anyway.
If we sell him we will need plenty of dosh and Harry to buy a few diamonds.

Good. He should be maybe not fed up but driven to try and improve to be able to beat them next time. The if you can't beat them join them attitude is rife in football these days. Players join a club play pretty well individually and then decide that they deserve better because they lose to better teams. It is basically searching for an easier job with a higher reward (in terms of money and trophies). It doesn't always work out personally though, just ask Berba.

The great situation we have now is that right now we can't seem to beat them but the players are looking around at each other in to coin Defoe's phrase they are 'in awe' of the players they are working with. You think that those players might just realise that they are onto a good thing and knuckle down work harder and try to get better and grow with the obvious huge potential we have? You have to hope that players like Modric, Lennon and Bale realise that maybe the best way to get to where they want to be isn't to join them but to push themselves harder to beat them. That way they have a huge opportunity to not only win a few trophies and get a nice bit of cash at the same time, but become part of something truely great, part of a club's folklore, a piece of a club's history. Maybe just maybe they can look around at each other and see that with a lot of hard work they can really achieve it all with us.