Modric finally makes Real move

After several weeks of making plain his desire to leave Tottenham Hotspur, Croatian international midfielder Luka Modric sealed a switch to Real Madrid on Monday. The former Dinamo Zagreb player has signed a five-year deal with the Spanish champion for a fee of around 30 million euros, with potentially seven million more in add-ons.

"I have to work very hard to earn a spot in the starting 11 and I'm prepared to do it," the diminutive maestro said at a press conference after passing the standard medical examination. "I've come here to improve and to win titles with Real Madrid. These are my personal goals. I believe I have what it takes to play here. I've got everything I need and I want to enjoy football and to learn. I'm grateful to Tottenham, but I'm now opening a new page in my life."

While Modric said he harbored no hard feelings toward his old team, which he claimed had reneged on an agreement that he could leave this summer, both Tottenham and Real included talk of a partnership agreement in their official club statements. This could be a sop to Spurs' institutional pride at losing its star player to the Spanish club, but if it is to be taken at face value it could represent a decent bit of business for the Londoners. Spurs picked up Rafael van der Vaart from Real in 2010 for a mere 10 million euros, a bargain in a summer where spending was far freer than it has been this year.

Real has long used a transfer policy of shipping out its younger prospects to other clubs to gain experience, either on loan or with a buy-back clause inserted in the deals just in case. Nuri Sahin's loan move to Liverpool is a case in point.

I'm grateful to Tottenham, but I'm now opening a new page in my life"

This summer it has shown it is also willing to cut its losses on decent players who have not quite made the grade at the Bernabéu, as is the case with Sergio Canales and Fernando Gago, both offloaded for relatively small fees.

Perhaps Tottenham should have tested the water of its new partnership by asking for Kaká on a season-long loan as part of the deal; the arrival of Modric was accompanied by the sound of the final nail in the coffin for the Brazilian's future prospects in the Spanish capital. Modric is clearly not going to be ostracized by José Mourinho in the same way as Kaká has been sidelined, but it remains unclear exactly why Real has bought the Croatian.

Mourinho already has a plethora of underused midfielders and Modric played a very similar role to Mesut Özil at Tottenham. A defensive midfielder earlier in his career, he can operate in the Xabi Alonso role, but the bearded Basque is one of the side's untouchables.

It is also difficult to see Modric occupying one of the attacking flanks, with Ángel di María and Cristiano Ronaldo established on right and left respectively. However, the season is long and the demands on the team of playing on three fronts great. Modric will start from the bench but will be given enough time to justify his fee, although he may be used sparingly in the next couple of weeks as he has not played a full match since Croatia's European Championship defeat to Spain on June 18 and only chalked up 25 minutes in his last international friendly. Modric refused to go on Tottenham's pre-season tour of the US and has been training alone in London for the entire summer.

"Real against Barca is one of the biggest games in world football and I would love to play but the coach will decide," said Modric on Monday.

Mourinho may be tempted to shake things up a bit nonetheless after he watched his side slump to a 2-1 defeat at Getafe on Sunday night. In three matches so far this season Real has failed to win and Wednesday's Supercup return leg at the Bernabéu against Barcelona is hardly the tonic to ease a shaky start to the campaign.

"We would have liked it if Luka had been able to join us sooner and on Sunday we definitively sealed the transfer," said Real sporting director Emilio Butragueño. "It has absolutely nothing to do with results."