Peter Crouch has lifted the lid on the ‘absolute genius’ he witnessed from Luka Modric during their time together at Tottenham Hotspur.
Nowadays, Crouch is often viewed as a comedic figure for his appearances on bookmaker adverts and his ‘That Peter Crouch’ podcast.
But it’s important to remember this is a player who scored 22 goals in 42 caps for England, while sharing the pitch with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Sol Campbell, Fernando Torres and Gareth Bale during the course of his career.
Another star Crouch saw up close and personal is Luka Modric.
The Croatian midfielder will, of course, be best known for his stunning time at Real Madrid, where he’s made over 500 appearances in 12 years, winning four La Liga titles and a whopping six Champions Leagues among a host of other major honours.
Modric has also tasted success at international level, helping Croatia reach a World Cup final and semi-final, and a Uefa Nations League final, with his role at the former helping him win the Ballon d’Or award.
But it was at Tottenham where he first really started catching the eye at the top level, playing 160 times for the club between 2008 and 2012, helping them qualify for the Champions League.
Even at 39 years old, Modric is still going strong with Los Blancos, even as his younger partner in crime at the Santiago Bernabeu, Toni Kroos, called time on his career in the summer.
Picking his all-time XI of former teammates, Crouch put Modric in his midfield and revealed some of the brilliance he witnessed during their time together at White Hart Lane.
“I have lots of fantastic players I played with, but Luka Modric is the man going in,” Crouch said (via TBR).
“I never saw him give the ball away, literally the entire time I was at Tottenham, and I’m talking about in training as well. He just had these nake hips and he’d get out of situations.
“He’d beat two or three men and you’d think ‘how has he done that?’
“An unbelievable passer of the ball. Luka Modric ran football matches, he wasn’t a box-to-box midfielder, but an absolute genius of a footballer and one of the best lads you’d meet.”
Top photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
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