As the years pass by, people are struggling more and more to find new superlatives for Croatian superstar Luke Modric. At 36 years of age, he continues to come up big for Real Madrid when they need him most.
In an interview with Diario AS, former manager Gustavo Poyet was asked about the players in the current Real Madrid squad he had managed in the past. Although he was assistant manager to Juande Ramos at Tottenham Hotspur, he did have some high words of praise for Modric.
“Modric, with all the respect in the world to all the players I have trained, was the best. An understanding, a quality, a balance in his play, the positioning, the way he makes himself free, the way he looks for the ball… He’s the best I’ve ever had before my eyes.”
Poyet helped to deliver Tottenham’s last trophy, a league cup win in 2008, with the likes of Modric and Dimitar Berbatov in the side. Another famous name he encountered there was the under-fire Gareth Bale.
“With Gareth it was different because he was very young, At that time he only wanted to play left-back. Some years later, when he exploded as a winger, it made me happy to see him get rid of the 3 on his shirt and see him at a different level. His last season at Tottenham he was at the level of Glen Hoddle.”
Without prompting, Poyet came onto the Welshman’s character. The Uruguayan manager, recently placed in charge of the Greek national team, seemed to think Bale was misunderstood.
“It was logical that he ended up somewhere special, like Real Madrid. People need to get to know him to understand him. From the outside he can seem a little cold, but I stick with the image of Gareth [that I had] from training, with the Gareth that you meet and you talk to and it’s a pleasure to be with him.”
