All summer, the noise out of White Hart Lane is that Luka Modric is absolutely not going anywhere, under any conditions. Tottenham really haven't been very keen to give up their best player (and nor should they be, because Luka Modric is excellent), but that hasn't deterred either Chelsea or Modric himself, who is apparently desperate for a move. And now the tone from the north London club is a little bit different.
We all love our club, but if someone comes along who offers to treble your wages and could win the Champions League, then it's not easy. He's had his head turned. I want to see him here at the start of the year, but if he goes then you get three or four players [in]. They're your options: get the money and get four players and, in all honesty, have a better team, or keep Luka, who is a fantastic player.
-Harry Redknapp. Source: Guardian.
As our deadly rivals who all suck rocks friends at Cartilage Free Captain have mentioned, it's entirely possible that Redknapp has just had a few too many to drink here, but it's more likely that Spurs have finally started to resign themselves to life without the little Croatian who could and are preparing the fans for his departure. With all of the weird things that have been happening around Modric today (being left out of the Europa league squad, having his number kept open at Chelsea, an odd press conference turning up on Thursday) I wouldn't be surprised if something goes down as soon as this week.
Whether or not that's a good thing is dependent on the price, but no matter what it'd be hard to argue that Modric wouldn't make Chelsea better, immediately. The rest is up for debate - how does he fit into the system, what's happening with Josh McEachran, who's going as a makeweight, etc. But it would be exciting, and after the disappointment of losing out on Javier Pastore (yes, I am still bitter, thanks) I could do with a bit of transfer-related excitement in my life.