Euro 2008 Player Profile: Luka Modric

Name: Luka Modric
Team: Croatia
Group: B; Germany, Poland, Austria.
Caps: 24 (3)
Age: 22
Position: Midfielder (L/C) – Playmaker
Club Team: Dinamo Zagreb/Tottenham

Already one of the most anticipated participants of the summer tournament by far, he’s dominated the headlines this week after his huge money move to Tottenham over the weekend. Surely destined for the likes of Real, Chelsea and Liverpool, the Spurs pulled off a major coup and Luka gets a month to show the world why he’s worth €21m (and potentially more, depending on clauses).

What can you say about Modric? A true phenom, one of the best young talents walking the planet right now. His most frequent comparison was a pretty decent player, you may have heard of him, Johan Cruijff.

Perhaps his best skill is his playmaking, but his best asset is probably the pitch intelligence which allows him to get the most from his talents. Knowing where to be before the ball even knows where it’s going to be, timing runs and placing teammates in a position to get the most from their opportunity. He’s the very definition of a player who “makes others around him better”, a prerequisite for greatness.

For his current club he most often lines up on the left, which seems to work well considering he’s scored 13 goals in 22 games thus far this season, but for country he’s sat deep in the center of the midfield, given the license to make bombing forward runs. Regardless of where he lines up, he’ll get the ball and get the ball often, somewhere on the field. Left, right, center, in the stands – it doesn’t matter. Find the ball, and you’ll often find Luka. Of course, if he’s not near the ball, watch out, because chances are he’s assessing the angles and figuring out how best to beat the defense into space.

His impact for Croatia will almost certainly be massive, but it’s a game of XI v XI and one player, no matter how brilliant, can’t carry an international tournament. Group B is far from a group of death, with Germany, Austria and Poland, but qualification is by no means a foregone conclusion. For Germany it is, but Poland has an improving team and will look to make their inaugural Euros appearance a memorable one. Croatia will likely be duking it out with them for the other spot in the knockouts.

But regardless of Croatia’s performance as a team, Luka Modric will almost surely be one of the shining lights of the tournament. Keep a close eye on this one.

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