Croatia playmaker Luka Modric can help fire Tottenham up the Barclays Premier League table next season, according to compatriot Vedran Corluka.
Spurs recovered from a disastrous opening few months to finish the last campaign strongly under Harry Redknapp, reaching the Carling Cup final at Wembley and eventually securing eighth place.
Corluka feels Modric, 24, can play a central role in driving Spurs on. "It was difficult at the start because it was his first time playing in England and nobody in the team was playing well at that point," defender Corluka told the club's official website, www.tottenhamhotspur.com.
He added: "When the team started to play well he showed why he is one of the best young midfielders in the world.
"Hopefully he will be even better next season because he knows how other teams play against us and the surroundings, so it will be a lot easier."
Corluka added: "It is hard for a foreign player at first because everything is so much faster than in other leagues, as well as the physical strength.
"But after half a season, you are used to these things. If you have the same ability of the other players, then eventually you should be able to compete."
Redknapp is keen to bolster his squad ahead of the new campaign.
Spurs are understood to be ready to listen to offers for strikers Roman Pavlyuchenko, a target for old club Spartak Moscow, and Darren Bent, said to be interesting Sunderland, while the future of former England winger David Bentley may also be away from White Hart Lane.






Comment 8 - 27 of 27
disagree, keano and defoe can gel again this season and bring us some much needed goals. keanoooooooooo....
I think only a wide left player is needed . Yuri Zhirkov would have been the perfect signing as he can play as left back as well as a winger.
No idea why Bale and Dos Santos didnt work out they are excellent young players with lots of potential. Maybe their injuries let them down. hope that both of them hit and Spurs wouldnt require any other player. Even GK is great and have a good backup too.
But just to be on safe side, if they go for Downing, it would complete the team and start up strong.
With out a doubt we have a lot of quality in all areas but we lack consistency & Unfortunately we need to replace Ledley. His injuries will not give confidence to our back 4. We did very well last year,I thought Dawson was awesome when he had to step into Ledley's boots. Maybe we still need a proven keeper. £25m on a keeper is worth it.Not just for keeping clean sheets but for growing confidence with the guys in front of him (oh to have Jennings back).I think Defoe & Keano will gel again,and with Palacious winning 'lost' tackles and Modric showing his flair I really think we have a realistic chance of breaking into the top 4,after all, this year we don't have to worry about additional European games.The new stadium will also be a bonus,we can show the world we are still one of the largest clubs in the world and we will attract better players. A good FA cup run will prove how far we have progressed.Bring on 2009/10 season. Come on you SPURS. The Cockerel has woken.
Its plain and simple we are the best supporters their is !! Now lets all give a thumbs up to that .......
And a one finger salute to every other fan that comes on here..
SPURS FOREVER ... N IRELANDS NUMBER 1 FAN !
Just to echo everyone who says we need stability. Please please please stop messing with the squad, make a small amount of important purchases, and let them gel together. As p.tenick says, we don't want another "transition" stage. I have to say that the last time I felt we had a strong and consistent squad was under the great man Martin Jol, who seemed to be able to make the team bond (apart from Berba, who's eyes were looking elsewhere).
I'm a Spurs supporter, and in my opinion, Redknapp should keep Bentley and Bent. Pav hasn't really setlled into the EPL, so we could part with him for the right amount of money, and find a replacement. Modric, Jenas, and Lennon are absolutely brilliant in the midfield. King, Woodgate and Dawson are solid centrebacks. Corluka is a smashing full-back. Our squad's strong enough. What we really need is better luck than last season.
i think the prob this year will be that harry will clear out dead wood, but again will not be given time to let them make their mark. unless he buys older proven players (the tried and tested method) we will not invest in any new talent. i dont see why he wants to lose pav? he scored some imprtant goals against top teams. we have for the first time in about 2 / 3 years we have 4 forwards we should keep, maybe lose bent but get another. we have an abundance of midfield that does need a shake up so clear out and replace.just keep lennon, modric, palacios, maybe hud. and re bolster with quality talent. but most of all, get a secure regular back 4. king needs to get out before he cripples himself. hutton was injured for all the time redknapp has been there so why does he want to lose him? he was very good in his first season. hutton, corluka, woodgate and another as back 4. also i think gomes was showing signs of his brilliance and should be kept in the sticks with cudicini as back up.
spurs WILL be signing wally berg - a swedish striker
Seems like my comments are being heard, back in for Marcus Berg along with Aston Villa. If we don't sign anyboby else, it will be more than O.K. Stop playing around Harry, you will regret not signing this guy. Another thing i'd like to mention is why are we always signing players too close to the new season, and then end up with these over priced players that have been linked with all the top teams you can think of. I hope Mr Redknapp is signing the players he has been doing his homework for and not being pulled into the mind games of Wenger, Fergie and all the other managers who like to covet one player but have their eyes on their real prize winner which costs less overall. It's the truth
Many teams in the premiership would like to have players like Huddlestone, O'Hara, Palacios, Modric, Defoe, Keane, Jenas (not personally a fan), Lennon, Woodgate, etc. Spurs have a talented squad and they now need to consolidate. You cannot build a strong motivated team if you change five or six players every year. Harry now has to turn the talent into a successful competitive unit that can compete with anybody. Last season we saw the potential in patches but unless a team can produce high levels of performance week in week out, the best it can hope for is mid-table mediocrity. I would like to see some re-inforcement in defence but other than that Harry should concentrate on getting the best out of the talent at his disposal. If he can motivate the players, Spurs can compete with anyone.
EQUALS ITSELF OUT SO HE IS TIGHT....!!! I KNOW WE ARE GETTING A NEW GROUND BUT COME ON LETS SEE SOME REAL HARD CORE ACTION IN THE WINDOW.... COYS
EQUALS ITSELF OUT SO HE IS TIGHT....!!! I KNOW WE ARE GETTING A NEW GROUND BUT COME ON LETS SEE SOME REAL HARD CORE ACTION IN THE WINDOW.... COYS
YES AGREE HOWEVER WHAT YOU ALSO GOT TO REALISE THE AMOUNT OF MONEY WE GOT FROM THE SALEE OF DEFOE AND KEANE AND BERBATOV IN THE FIRST PLACE THAT ALMOST EQ
YES AGREE HOWEVER WHAT YOU ALSO GOT TO REALISE THE AMOUNT OF MONEY WE GOT FROM THE SALEE OF DEFOE AND KEANE AND BERBATOV IN THE FIRST PLACE THAT ALMOST EQ
YES AGREE HOWEVER WHAT YOU ALSO GOT TO REALISE THE AMOUNT OF MONEY WE GOT FROM THE SALEE OF DEFOE AND KEANE AND BERBATOV IN THE FIRST PLACE THAT ALMOST EQ
The only place we need players for as i see it is defence. As much as Spurs fans love Ledley King, he needs to either go, or retire and take up a coaching course to work with Spurs. Midfield has improved and shored up since Palacios joined Spurs. Modric was good last year and i think will be even better next year. Keano needs to go, he is'nt the player he was. I think the rejection from his boyhood team has hit him hard and it will be hard to recover from something like that.
If you form the league table resulting from the matches played between the top 10 clubs in the Premiership last season, you find that Spurs finished in third place, level on points with Chelsea, with Liverpool first and Manchester United second. Arsenal, Everton and Aston Villa were behind Spurs. That suggests to me that Spurs don't lack quality players, but maybe need to exchange a few players for others with more physical presence, so that they are not overpowered by the physicality of the teams in the bottom half of the table.
It still amazes me how some so called Spurs fans say we are tight, or Levi is tight. Over the last several years we have been the biggest buyers in the league, with exception of Chelsea with their big money owner, but even now they are not going to spend as much as we will. We have a good team, and considering the terrible start we had last year, and finishing 8th, i think we did okay. We will also struggle to get top top players this year because of us not being in Europe this year, not because we are tight.
joe cole should be our main target, pair him with modric, lennon out wide and palacios in the middle. our strikers are pretty decent just need time to settle, we seem to sell them to early for them to make any impact. maybe a couple of wing backs wouldn't hurt either, possibly expereinced ones like heinz from real.
How many periods of "transition" do us poor spurs supporters have to put up with.
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