The Modric saga rumbles on, but will AVB seek alternatives?
It would seem that Redknapp has written off Modric mentally as he admitted that the player’s head has been turned and he’ll likely spend the season watching Chelsea in the Champions League and competing for honours this season, whilst thinking that he should be part of it.
But ‘Arry also says that he doesn’t want the player to go and backs Daniel Levy into a corner by constantly reminding us that the Spurs chairman has said that the player is not for sale, a statement that Levy will not want to back down on.
That’s not to say that Chelsea will give up their pursuit of Modric and there has been rumours of a £40m bid about to go in for him, which is £5m-10m too much in my opinion.
Villas-Boas was asked about Modric and said:
“I cannot extend myself a lot on this player. His qualities are visible. He is Harry Redknapp’s player, not my player unfortunately.”
When asked if he had given up the chase for Modric or a new midfielder, Villas-Boas said:
“No. I just have to continue to assess the market. You know that I’ve spoken and made it public that we might need to add to midfield. We are short in midfield in terms of numbers. I am not going to wait for a specific player until 31 August. I will bring somebody in.
“It gets pretty frenetic in the last week of the market. That is the reality. Even this week, one of the biggest deals in the Premier League was done with Nasri leaving Arsenal for Man City.
“Let’s see how the market goes. It will be good for the managers when it closes on August 31.”
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I agree with AVB. We definitely need a new midfielder especially as we’re currently wasting the talents of Fernando Torres, who keeps having to drop deep just to get a foot on the ball because the likes of Frank Lampard seem blind to his movement or simply lacking the guile to pick out the right pass.
Chelsea sprung something of a surprise by bringing in Juan Mata, who was heavily linked with a move to London rivals Arsenal earlier in the summer. I think Villas-Boas has a list of midfielders in his mind that we could bring in if we cannot get Modric, so could there be more surprises in store?
Joao Moutinho is just one midfielder that has been mooted as a potential alternative to Modric and many of the Stamford Bridge faithful believe that Josh McEachran is good enough to play more of a part in the first team, which midfielder would you like to see arrive at Chelsea before the transfer deadline?