Luka Modrić

[Morten]

Modric is done, sure, he might have a good game here or there where you can see his class, but he is too old to do it consistantly anymore.
He cant be a full-time starter next season, could be useful coming off the bench though, he simply needs to play less as he is aging now.

 

[Havesaks]

Him winning bdor is still a joke in history of b'dOr. 16/17 denial of b'dOr is the only reason i somewhat can accept it.

 

[El Gato]

This is a slightly hot take.
But as past it as this man has been for a long time, he's perhaps one of the only vets in elite sides in world football since perhaps the guys comprising that old 2010-2012 Milan side who is regularly showing absolute utter class in short stretches. If you play him in games like this, where opponent is either tired or relatively poor, he's able to make such a mark on the game at the age of 35.

He is a GOAT tier midfielder along the likes of Pirlo and Xavi who I've been wrong about in terms of leaving the club. His presence is warranted, as long as he is fine with playing less and his priority is to pass on the baton. Which is something that not many vets in RM have shown whenever their departure was requested.

And probably the same thing should happen to Marcelo, who albeit should play ONLY select few times in Copa & in the middle of a good run of results so that him being washed-up doesn't impact us nearly as much as it does.

 

[Devils]

Still a top 5 midfielder for me.

Thiago
Kimmich
KDB
Modric
Kante

Still 10x better than any Barca midfielder at the age of 35.

 

[Birdy]

GOAT-level alongside Xavi and Pirlo IMO.
I always rated him much higher than Kroos (although I rate Kroos), his quality on the ball is sublime.

Barca fucked up big time not getting him back in 2012. Pep liked him a lot and if we hadn't bought fraud Cesc who was not good enough for a Barca midfield, if Rossell was not there, if pep had stayed beyond 2012, who knows what would have happened.
I know there are many ifs there

 

[serghei]

For me, same tier as Pirlo, both a good tier under Xavi. Great player obviously. But Xavi owned the midfield to the degree that in his time, he was the guy that ran the show. With Modric, many times Madrid were actually beaten in midfield and won games based on wing play by fullbacks with crosses and clutch goals by Ronaldo and Ramos.

Many Clasicos here as well, 5-1, 4-0 losses, and such games. Many games vs Bayern where Bayern even dominated Madrid on Bernabeu. Don't remember any game with peak Xavi where we didn't run the show in midfield.

 

[Morten]

GOAT-level alongside Xavi and Pirlo IMO.
I always rated him much higher than Kroos (although I rate Kroos), his quality on the ball is sublime.

Barca fucked up big time not getting him back in 2012. Pep liked him a lot and if we hadn't bought fraud Cesc who was not good enough for a Barca midfield, if Rossell was not there, if pep had stayed beyond 2012, who knows what would have happened.
I know there are many ifs there

Cesc wasn`a fraud, very good career, very good midfielder.

 

[Catta]

At that time, if you offered anyone to choose between Fabregas and Modric, 99% of people would choose Fabregas.

 

[JamDav1982]

GOAT-level alongside Xavi and Pirlo IMO.
I always rated him much higher than Kroos (although I rate Kroos), his quality on the ball is sublime.

Barca fucked up big time not getting him back in 2012. Pep liked him a lot and if we hadn't bought fraud Cesc who was not good enough for a Barca midfield, if Rossell was not there, if pep had stayed beyond 2012, who knows what would have happened.
I know there are many ifs there

Pep liked Cesc more he was the driving force behind the move for him.

Barca could have signed Modric before he even went to Spurs.

There is no chance Barca would move for Modric with Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc and Thiago in team even if Pep was there after 2012.

 

[serghei]

At that time, if you offered anyone to choose between Fabregas and Modric, 99% of people would choose Fabregas.

No doubt.

 

[Morten]

Modric sure looks after himself, another one of those who can keep it going for a really long time.

 

[Birdy]

At that time, if you offered anyone to choose between Fabregas and Modric, 99% of people would choose Fabregas.

Laughable.
What evolved since then proved how correct was that view.

Fabregas was a fine professional. He was a 'fraud' only in the context of that Barca. Levels below the rest, Pep has to adjust the system to fit him in, and after the first 6 months he was below par until the day he left

 

[Alik]

Cesc was a superior player than any midfielder we have signed since unfortunately.

No shame in being levels below prime Xavi and Iniesta. Modric wouldn't have benched any of those at the time either.

 

[serghei]

Cesc was a superior player than any midfielder we have signed since unfortunately.

No shame in being levels below prime Xavi and Iniesta. Modric wouldn't have benched any of those at the time either.

At the time or ever. But it was worth signing Modric and use him as a squad player for 2-3 seasons. Have him ready to take over, when Xaviesta got old. I think Modric would've understood and accepted that. Modric - Thiago after Xavi - Iniesta wouldn't have been such a serious decline.

With better management, we could have handled the transition much better.

 

[El Gato]

No shame in being levels below prime Xavi and Iniesta. Modric wouldn't have benched any of those at the time either.

Could have easily benched both at any time, especially if they didn't have the Messi and Spain synergy to get hyped from.