Jermain Defoe has insisted that he could tell when he was playing with Luka Modric at Tottenham well over a decade ago that the midfielder was going to win the Ballon d’Or one day.
It was at Tottenham that Modric first hit the limelight, developing into one of the best midfielders in the Premier League following his move from Dinamo Zagreb to White Hart Lane in 2008.
He has not looked back since leaving North London for Los Blancos in 2012, having been a key part of five Champions League-winning sides at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Modric will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest players of the modern era, having won the Ballon d’Or back in 2018, and he is still going strong at the highest level even at 38 years of age, although he is now perhaps starting to show his age this season.
Defoe insisted that he could tell as soon as the Croat arrived at Spurs that he was blessed with the attributes needed to become one of the best in the world.
The former Tottenham striker said on the Defoe & Deeney Football Firsts podcast about Modric: “Special player man. You know what was interesting, he was at the peak of his powers in his mid-30s.
“See when I played with Luka at Tottenham, even then you look on and think, you could go on and win the Ballon d’Or.
“You know when you see players and they’re just so silky if that makes sense? It was effortless, he could just handle the ball anywhere on the pitch and the pressure.
“It always felt like he had time, that stepover, he always used to use the outside of his right foot. When you saw Luka pass it, he always used the outside of his right foot.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While Modric may not have produced as many moments of brilliance as the likes of Andreas Iniesta or Zinedine Zidane, what set him apart from his peers is his metronomic nature.
The Croat is someone who would always make the right decisions on the ball and not many players in the history of the game have been able to elevate their sides as much as he has.
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