Seeing as this is the voyeur thread...
Mourinho is reported to want to exchange Kaka for Maicon.
Who would have thought that Kaka would end up being surplus to requirements at Madrid?

http://www.realmadrid.dk/news/article/?newsid=16517

Caligula wrote:

There is a rumor that Spurs will offer Modric ₤90k per week.

Every time I see Modric, he reminds me of Hleb. He looks awesome on the ball, is a technically gifted player. And then the game ends, and he hasn't scored, hasn't got an assist, hasn't even put a tackle in. So what exactly is his purpose? And Hleb's too?

Agreed. More style over substance. His passing in the final third is underwhelming, no one will convince me otherwise. At least Hleb had that crazy close control.

Caligula wrote:

Every time I see Modric, he reminds me of Hleb. He looks awesome on the ball, is a technically gifted player. And then the game ends, and he hasn't scored, hasn't got an assist, hasn't even put a tackle in. So what exactly is his purpose? And Hleb's too?

I like Modric, but that's a really good description. It also captures how I feel about Nasri when he's not making runs and scoring goals.

He's a central midfielder in a winger based 4-4-2. What do you expect?

He did very little in the final third when he played wide left for 2 seasons, mate.

Because he is a central midfielder.

Allow me to rephrase that.

Modric is getting rave reviews as a central midfielder; nobody is buying him as a left winger for £20m so it's irrelevant. His stats are fairly standard for his sort of central midfielder. His performances, however, are a cut above.

That seems like the position that suits him best, I agree, but he doesn't tackle or win the ball, he's weak physically, he doesn't play creative passes in the final third, and he doesn't really threaten the goal, he recycles possession extremely well/rarely gives the ball away and is very elegant and classy on the ball, but is that enough to make him really special, no, it's not, in my opinion.

You wouldn't say the same about Wilshere.

Modric was amongst the best midfielders in the league last season and is rated as such by any multitude of players, managers and fans and rightly so.

Caligula wrote:

Capi, how would you compare Wilshere and Modric's skill-sets?

Same.

Wilshere is a bit more dynamic.

Modric has definitely benifited from playing in a deeper central position.

Tells you how lucky we are to have Wilshere though, that Chelsea are looking to pay 20m+ for a player who's over six years older and, in my opinion, isn't as good.

Put it this way, I'll be seriously disappointed if at 25, going on 26, Wilshere isn't far superior to the player Modric is today.

Then you're unrealistic.

We'll see.

We won't 'see'. It's unrealistic to say that you will be disappointed if Wilshere isn't better than modric in six years; that's a ludicrous statement.

I expect Wilshere to be a superior player to Modric once he's developed a bit more, and considerably better once he hits his peak .