‘Ridiculous’… Tom Huddlestone says £30m player Tottenham sold was always ‘incredible’ in training

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Tom Huddlestone has heaped praise on his old Tottenham Hotspur teammate Luka Modric.

Spurs have had some incredible players over the years. Gareth Bale is one that comes to mind immediately, as does Harry Kane. Modric is also right up there, and he was apparently incredible in training back then.

Tom Huddlestone says Luka Modric was ‘incredible’ in Tottenham training

Tottenham signed Luka Modric from Dinamo Zagreb back in 2008 for a fee in excess of £15 million (Sky Sports).

The Croatian was very highly rated at the time, but there were concerns over his physicality and how he would adapt to the intensity of the English game.

However, Modric became one of the best midfielders in the Premier League during his time at Spurs before he secured a £30 million move to Real Madrid in 2012 (BBC).

Tom Huddlestone was at Tottenham when Modric was signed, and he has revealed this week that the Croatian’s quality was evident in their very first training session together. Aaron Lennon said the same a while back too.

Speaking about Modric on talkSPORT, Huddlestone said: “You look at him and you think you can throw him off the ball or lads out-run him and stuff like that, but his first touch was exactly where he wanted every single time, he never used his left foot but the outside of his right foot was ridiculous.

“I was there when he arrived. Some of the bits he was doing in training were incredible, but then, which is probably the traditional British way – ‘he’s only little so we’ll stick him on the left wing or play him as a number 10’, which is not out of his comfort zone because he could play anywhere.

“But, once you played him as one of them two deeper midfielders and he’s dictating the tempo of the game, he just went to a different level.”

Modric is one of the best ever

Luka Modric was already a star when he was at Tottenham, but he reached a whole new level after he moved to Real Madrid in 2012.

The Croatian didn’t have the greatest debut season in Spain, but since then, he has been incredible. He has won 23 trophies there so far, including five Champions League titles.

Individually as well, Modric has accomplished a lot. Back in 2018, he won FIFA’s Best Player of the Year award, UEFA’s Best Player in Europe award and of course, the Ballon d’Or.

Modric will go down as one of the greatest midfielders to ever play the game, and Tottenham fans are lucky to have seen him play for them for four years.