Don't beat yourself up over it dude. Plenty of people thought Modric was a flop when he first came to Madrid. Heck, the "marca poll" even had the fans calling him the worst signing the year he came. Yeah, all those people feel pretty dumb. Modric has been a crack for us since that wonder goal that knocked out Man Utd and sent SAF into retirement.
Nah, when he was at Madrid I already realized his quality and didn't have doubts (although I didn't think he was going to be this good). But in the early Tottenham days he looked terribly awkward. He made strides, and I think Kovacic will follow his footsteps.
How i dont get it He was magic at Tottenham He still is.and he is now one of the best midfielders that ever played for us He surely is no1 at this moment in the world
He's the classic example of how having long term vision benefits you even if you have a winning team already. Many thought of him as a luxury signing when we had just won the league getting 100 points with 4-2-3-1 formation. Mou even struggled to integrate him to the starting XI and his highlight moment that season was scoring at OT coming on as a sub. Now he's helped us to 3 CL wins and we have the best midfield in the world.
This... I used to wonder watching this lil fellow plays for Tottenham. He was amazing there and the difference in quality between him and other Tottenham midfielder were really visible. I think he was one of the best players in PL during his Tottenham days. Its that he had a slow start to his RM career.
It's all about Ronaldo these days, but I'm suprised nobody talked about Modric. I just read that he is under investigation for perjury?
He lied under oath to protect crime boss Mamić who pulled substantial amount of money from Dinamo and at the same time commited tax fraud. We are talking about millions. Not to mention other influence of Mamić and his corruption also at NT level. He is protecting a well known criminal. How is that morally not so fcked up? It is even worse. Also we are talking about 6 months to 5 years if proven guilty.
Can someone explain what the evidence they have against him? Is it because he retracted his original story Mamic?
Long story short: Mamic manages Dinamo Zagreb for the last 15 years or so. He had an agency that was under his brother's name and all players would sign for him when signing for Dinamo. If would start very early, usually at the age of 18 when they would sign a "citizen contract" with him (it's like a regular contract that is outside FIFA regulations but inside normal law in the country). That would tie them to him and from then on they are ********ed. When Modric moved to Spurs he signed a contract where half of the transfer fee would go to him (roughly 12 mil €) and later he took that money out of the bank as cash and gave it back to Mamic. Lovren, Kovacic and a lot of other players had similar contracts and similar situations and transfers. Player who decided not to sign with Mamic agency had issues getting out of the club (Muric, Mandzukic). Modric was called as a witness some time last year I think. Last week he changed his statement at the hearing. Now they are investigating him for perjury. The whole country is hating on him and the other players, but to be honest they were all victims here. Mamic got to them when they were just kids and tied them with those citizen contracts and from then on there's no way back.
6 months - 5 years if proven guilty. And at the moment it does not look good, because his latest testimony contradicts his previous.
Didn't he say "I don't remember" in his first testimony and then changed it? From a legal standpoint, he could say he simply remembered, can't he? I know this is ********ed up, but in the Balkans things aren't always as simple as "just testify", especially against someone powerful. They can ruin lives of many members of your family/friends.
Personally I am still celebrating the wins, we are Madrid, we have a strong talented core of players, we are linked to some of the best youngsters out there, I am confident that no matter what happens we are in a very good moment, the "team" is everything and we have a very strong one at the moment, so, no doom and gloom for me, just annoyance at some nonsense that's going on at the moment.
It's better off not knowing what goes on off the pitch sometimes. As long as it does not affect their form, and we keep winning. Benz strangely was in fantastic form during the whole blackmail ordeal for example. The problem is when players get muy triste and make a drama of it.
Important update: The expert for this kind of stuff said tonight that nothing will happen to Modric. In Croatia people don't even get charged for perjury and it's actually near impossible to prove, and in those few cases that did go all the way it dragged on for years and was resolved with some kind of agreement between the parties. So basically Modric played the prosecutor. He didn't want to have any part in this (which is fine by me, considering Mamic is very likely being supported by certain people in our government and the president of our country is his bff), so they'll just have to find another way to get to him. Now the prosecutor ended up looking stupid so they are spinning it so people have someone else to blame. All in all, smart move by Modric. He'll get some heat and bad press for a month, his image will be affected forever, BUT he will have nothing more to do with all of this ever again. He's basically out of it now. Btw, a small correction from my first post; he signed his first contract with Mamic, the one they called "citizen contract" at the age of 14, and it's the usual crap with shady agents going something like this: "I find you a place to live in, I buy training gear and give you small allowance, and you sign a contract where you give me half of what you make until the end of your professional career"." Also, remember Eduardo Da Silva? I'm sure you all do. Here's something from 2010: http://arhiva.nacional.hr/en/clanak/50453/eduardo-still-mamics-slave NACIONAL reveal details of the secret contract signed by footballer Eduardo da Silva and Zdravko Mamic, according to which da Silva will be required to pay Mamic a large percentage of his earnings abroad until the end of his career
It would be standard here to "investigate" for perjury if there was a change in a witnesses statement on the date of trial. But whether charges are actually brought are a different matter. In any event, it is never good to give a witness statement and materially change it on the trial date. That is asking for all sorts of trouble. Far better to just refuse (I presume he did but then got a subpoena).
People that smell their own farts judging Modric about whether or not he testified against one of the most powerful men in the country. Complicated issue, but a lot of tap dancing is allowed when dealing with the well being of your family.