After a slow start in England - Modric really started to find form in the second half of 2008/09...
Asked to sum up Modric’s ability in the run up to Euro 2008, Croatia manager Slaven Bilic said: “In terms of playmaking, he is only second in the world to Kaka.” High praise indeed, considering that at the time, the Brazilian was the reigning World Player of the Year.
Modric went some way towards validating this assessment, not to mention the £16.5m that Spurs paid Dynamo Zagreb for the midfielder, with a number of outstanding performances in Austria and Switzerland.
His ability to receive the ball in tight spots, before either dribbling past an opponent or finding a team-mate with a defence-splitting pass, marked him out as Croatia’s star performer. It’s a billing he’ll be hoping to acquire at Spurs during 2008/09.