Jody
SC Supporter
- Sep 11, 2004
- 7,008
- 5,826
Some interesting comments, particularly about where Moddy sees himself playing. I couldn't see this elsewhere.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...for-modric-to-spur-new-generation-880199.html
Robbie Keane had barely been gone 24 hours before the new generation at Tottenham Hotspur were queuing up yesterday to claim that they were the natural successors to the departed Irishman. Exit Keane, enter Luka Modric and Giovani dos Santos who both said that they were the men to fill the gaps in what is beginning to look like a threadbare attack at White Hart Lane.
You could not begrudge Spurs the timing of their decision to present Modric and Dos Santos as Tottenham players, on the same day as Keane was ushered into Anfield to great fanfare. The Croatia international was signed two months ago for £16.5m, their record signing, but he was at the club's training ground yesterday creating a timely diversion from Keane's defection to Liverpool. "I'm not concerned [about Keane]," Modric said. "This team has a great ambition regardless of Robbie Keane leaving. Even if Dimitar Berbatov leaves I'm sure they will find another great player. This club has a great future. We have a lot of positive things here.
"I hope that he [Berbatov] stays as he is a great player and he means a lot to the team. This club needs big names and this club will have big names." It was exactly what the Spurs hierarchy had hoped to hear from the 22-year-old in whom they invested an enormous amount of faith – and money – even before he burned the brightest in Croatia's run to the quarter-finals of Euro 2008. At close quarters, in a white Spurs jersey Modric still looks remarkably lightweight – more like a student returning from his gap year than a multi-million pound footballer – but his performances for Croatia are evidence he can hold his own with the best.
As for his best position, Modric said that he would be happy to slot into the role vacated by Keane just behind the main striker. "It has not been decided yet exactly where I will play but I hope that I'll be further forward rather than a defensive role," Modric said. "That's where I have been playing in my national team. I feel the most comfortable in the forward position. I feel comfortable in the attacking positions." Confronted with the prospect of playing in such a physically demanding league, Modric was too polite to point out how he ran England's midfield ragged at Wembley in November without any problems. Instead he told the story again of his football apprenticeship as a teenager in Bosnia where he was loaned to the club Zrinjski Mostar. "In Bosnia, the game is very rough, referees do not spare you," he said. "So there are no more surprises waiting for me, that is why I know I will be able play in the English league."
Dos Santos is not quite as battle-hardened as Modric – he is 19 but could pass for five years younger – and endearingly went to the trouble of shaking everyone's hand before speaking in Spanish that was barely audible. "It would be daft to compare me to Robbie Keane and what he has achieved and to replace him would be difficult," he said. "As footballers we all have our own style. I'm comfortable anywhere from midfield to further forward. That's where I find the space to express myself as a player."
The Mexican international has, by all accounts, been stunning in training and was impressive against Norwich City in a 5-1 friendly win on Monday night. Whether he can do it in his first season in the Premier League is open to debate. He left Barcelona, he said, because he was not playing enough. "The best thing for me is to be at Tottenham now, to learn and to improve," he said. "I was impressed with the ambitious plans that the manager has here."
He scored a hat-trick in his last game for Barcelona but there are no regrets about moving. Did he agree with Ryan Giggs' assertion that too many young players are simply in it for the money? "I concentrate on football, that's my motivation," Dos Santos said. "I want to improve as a player and get better. Look, if I cared about image then I would have stayed at Barcelona. But that's not what I'm bothered about." To be fair to the little chap he is – apart from the diamonds on the watch – unusually free of the bling that is standard issue among the new generation of Premier League superstars. For Dos Santos, signed for an initial fee of £4.7m, there is also the issue of his small stature although he said that it was not a worry for him. "You look around the world of football and there are plenty of small players who have done well," he said.
His father is Brazilian and was a footballer himself, although never for the national team, and he has two brothers who also play. The game in his genes and Dos Santos might just invite comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo if he performs as everyone says he can, although for the time being it was enough yesterday for Tottenham to demonstrate that they are not just about selling good players.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...for-modric-to-spur-new-generation-880199.html
Robbie Keane had barely been gone 24 hours before the new generation at Tottenham Hotspur were queuing up yesterday to claim that they were the natural successors to the departed Irishman. Exit Keane, enter Luka Modric and Giovani dos Santos who both said that they were the men to fill the gaps in what is beginning to look like a threadbare attack at White Hart Lane.
You could not begrudge Spurs the timing of their decision to present Modric and Dos Santos as Tottenham players, on the same day as Keane was ushered into Anfield to great fanfare. The Croatia international was signed two months ago for £16.5m, their record signing, but he was at the club's training ground yesterday creating a timely diversion from Keane's defection to Liverpool. "I'm not concerned [about Keane]," Modric said. "This team has a great ambition regardless of Robbie Keane leaving. Even if Dimitar Berbatov leaves I'm sure they will find another great player. This club has a great future. We have a lot of positive things here.
"I hope that he [Berbatov] stays as he is a great player and he means a lot to the team. This club needs big names and this club will have big names." It was exactly what the Spurs hierarchy had hoped to hear from the 22-year-old in whom they invested an enormous amount of faith – and money – even before he burned the brightest in Croatia's run to the quarter-finals of Euro 2008. At close quarters, in a white Spurs jersey Modric still looks remarkably lightweight – more like a student returning from his gap year than a multi-million pound footballer – but his performances for Croatia are evidence he can hold his own with the best.
As for his best position, Modric said that he would be happy to slot into the role vacated by Keane just behind the main striker. "It has not been decided yet exactly where I will play but I hope that I'll be further forward rather than a defensive role," Modric said. "That's where I have been playing in my national team. I feel the most comfortable in the forward position. I feel comfortable in the attacking positions." Confronted with the prospect of playing in such a physically demanding league, Modric was too polite to point out how he ran England's midfield ragged at Wembley in November without any problems. Instead he told the story again of his football apprenticeship as a teenager in Bosnia where he was loaned to the club Zrinjski Mostar. "In Bosnia, the game is very rough, referees do not spare you," he said. "So there are no more surprises waiting for me, that is why I know I will be able play in the English league."
Dos Santos is not quite as battle-hardened as Modric – he is 19 but could pass for five years younger – and endearingly went to the trouble of shaking everyone's hand before speaking in Spanish that was barely audible. "It would be daft to compare me to Robbie Keane and what he has achieved and to replace him would be difficult," he said. "As footballers we all have our own style. I'm comfortable anywhere from midfield to further forward. That's where I find the space to express myself as a player."
The Mexican international has, by all accounts, been stunning in training and was impressive against Norwich City in a 5-1 friendly win on Monday night. Whether he can do it in his first season in the Premier League is open to debate. He left Barcelona, he said, because he was not playing enough. "The best thing for me is to be at Tottenham now, to learn and to improve," he said. "I was impressed with the ambitious plans that the manager has here."
He scored a hat-trick in his last game for Barcelona but there are no regrets about moving. Did he agree with Ryan Giggs' assertion that too many young players are simply in it for the money? "I concentrate on football, that's my motivation," Dos Santos said. "I want to improve as a player and get better. Look, if I cared about image then I would have stayed at Barcelona. But that's not what I'm bothered about." To be fair to the little chap he is – apart from the diamonds on the watch – unusually free of the bling that is standard issue among the new generation of Premier League superstars. For Dos Santos, signed for an initial fee of £4.7m, there is also the issue of his small stature although he said that it was not a worry for him. "You look around the world of football and there are plenty of small players who have done well," he said.
His father is Brazilian and was a footballer himself, although never for the national team, and he has two brothers who also play. The game in his genes and Dos Santos might just invite comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo if he performs as everyone says he can, although for the time being it was enough yesterday for Tottenham to demonstrate that they are not just about selling good players.
