It's a tricky one for Spurs. Without wanting to sound disrespectful to them, Modric is capable of playing football in a team at a higher level and having had a taste of CL football, he wants more. His head has been turned and once that's happened it's very difficult to get a player fully focused for his current team. So what do Spurs do? Keep him against his will and have a half focused player, who like Fabregas, his value will decrease the more he tries to engineer a move? Or cash in now and use the money to bring in players who actually want to play for the club?
I think there is one big difference. Fabregas just wanted to go home - nowhere else. In fact, he reportedly gave up millions to do so. Modric, on the other hand, has, I suspect, had his head turned by a large cheque being waved in front of him. Sure, he'd prefer to play CL football, than not. But, are Chelsea that much better than Spurs at the moment? Personally, I don't think so. With the addition of 1-2 good strikers, I think we can give anybody in the Premiership a tough game. In fact we should have won both games against the Chavs last season. A goalkeeping howler cost us the home game. And, some piss poor officiating cost us the away game.
The Fabregas situation was different, but ultimately it amounts to the same thing - having a want away player. Are Chelsea that much better than Spurs? I think the answer has to be yes. Chelsea are winning trophies and playing Champions League football, Spurs are not. And these are the things that players want. Club loyalty seems to be a thing of the past these days, players go where the best deals are offered to them. The ultimate example of this is Samir Nasri - he is on good wages £90k per week, he is playing regular champions league football and playing in one of the best teams in Europe and yet he wants to ditch Arsenal because someone has offered him more money.
Drogba clearly controlled the ball with his hand before scoring in the home game also. They didn't score a legitimate goal against us all season.
I think it's a mixture of both. For Modric, he wants Champions League football (at least that's what he's said publicly) For Narsi, he has Champions League football, so I can only conclude that he wants more than the £90k per week we've offered him.
Maybe he sees City as more likely to win trophies in general and not just qualifying consistently for the CL?
It's quite clearly both. Nasri will get more money at City, who are also more likely to win trophies than the goons (c.f. FA Cup 2011)
I'm not saying that wages aren't a factor in the Modric saga, if Chelsea are offering to double his wages, then it's going to be a motivational factor. But I don't think it's down to salary primarily. Modric has had a taste of football at the top level, and for a top level player, naturally he's going to want to recreate it. I don't know if it was before or after Spurs failed to qualify for the CL when Modric signed his contract extension, but we all know that contracts are hardly worth the paper they are written on in terms of loyalty - in one way, he may actually have done Levy a favour in signing it, as it will secure a better transfer fee. The Fabregas and Narsi situations are completely different. Fabregas wanted to go home, he said that 2-3 years ago, we were just trying our best to hang on to him. There's nothing about the Nasri situation that doesn't demonstrate that he's moving for entirely mercenary reasons.
Duuuuuuhh Apart from the greater likelihood of winning something at City, and playing in a team full of world-class players...
You seem to be forgetting that for a part of last season, Chelsea were behind us in the league. The only difference was, they finished strongly - we didn't. Possibly due to the CL campaign, but, undoubtedly because of our misfiring strike force. With the addition of Adebayor, and maybe one more, I would fancy us to take on Chelsea anytime. I sincerely don't believe there's much of a gap, now - if any
That's, of course true, Luke. However, beating almost any team 5-0 away from home is nothing to be sneezed at.
With the addition of Adebayor, and maybe one more, I would fancy us to take on Chelsea anytime. I sincerely don't believe there's much of a gap, now - if any ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How many of or players would get in thier team Modders, Bale and Probably Van der Vaart, no doubt the gap has definately got smaller in recent years, but if they manage to sign 2 creative players then we can probably forget about getting anywhere near them this year. I personally feel the top 3 are set in stone but we can definately get in the mix for 4th.
I think you could make a case for Sandro over Mikel and possibly one of our right backs. Also Ledley KIng, if fit would be automatic. Chelsea still have a stronger squad though so over the season they will be more consistent but I think we can get a result against any of the other teams in a one off match.
Adebayor, but City would never let The Chavs have him. Probably Sandro. Also, Lennon and Walker wouldn't be far away. The Chavs will need to spend big time, soon. Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Anelka are all up to their sell by date, or very close. I repeat, as things stand, there really isn't much between the teams.
Cech Ivan Luiz Alex Cole Essien Ramieres Josh Sturridge Torres Malouda Mikel, Lukaku, Benayoun, Bosingwa, Kalou etc as well. Even without the 4 players you mention and no new signings, that team could still win the league. I think the difference is still a fair bit. I cant see us having a run as bad as we did nov-jan last season.
Cech. He'll probably miss only 2 games, home to West Brom and Norwich. I wouldn't say it'll have a massive impact on our season.
The point being, our need to still hugely re-invest is wide of the mark given our signings since Jan and youth players coming through. Modric and Mata wouldn't be unwelcomed though!!
