Luka Modrić says failed Chelsea transfer was best thing for career

Updated: 05 Dec, 2025 • 0 • min read

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Luka Modrić says failed Chelsea transfer was best thing for career

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Luka Modrić has revealed that his blocked transfer to Chelsea in 2011 - a move he once pushed for publicly - ultimately became the best thing that could have happened to his career.

Modrić, now at AC Milan, looked destined to leave Tottenham Hotspur that summer after openly expressing his desire to join the Blues.

But Spurs chairman Daniel Levy rejected every bid, refusing to sell one of the club's star players to a direct Premier League rival.

Speaking on Neuspjeh prvaka, Modrić reflected on the saga with a mixture of honesty and hindsight.

Perhaps I shouldn't have said so publicly that I wanted to leave. Even so, I did very well at Tottenham.

They were very tough on me, and the chairman, Daniel Levy, made it crystal clear in our first meeting [that] there was absolutely no chance they would let me go.

After that, I carried on as if nothing had happened. I knew it would be complicated; both clubs are in London, and there's a rivalry.

Modrić Stayed and Delivered One of His Best Spurs Seasons

Despite his disappointment, the Croatian midfielder remained fully committed and went on to produce one of the finest campaigns of his Spurs career.

Tottenham finished fourth in the Premier League, only to be denied Champions League football after Chelsea's dramatic European triumph that same season.

I wanted to go, even though I knew it was going to be very difficult.

In the end, it didn't happen, and I kept playing, and it was perhaps one of my best seasons. We finished fourth; that year Chelsea won the Champions League.

The season was phenomenal, and a year later, an even better opportunity came along. And in the end, it worked out even better; probably if I had joined to Chelsea, I wouldn't have gone to Real Madrid.

A Sliding Doors Moment That Led to Football Greatness

Modrić eventually joined Madrid in 2012 in a move that changed the trajectory of his career.

Over 13 trophy-laden seasons at the Bernabéu, he won a club-record 28 major titles and the 2018 Ballon d'Or, famously breaking the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly.

Before that defining move, Modrić made more than 150 appearances for Tottenham following his £16.5 million arrival from Dinamo Zagreb in 2008.

Although the Chelsea transfer saga once caused tension, Modrić now sees it as a crucial sliding doors moment that allowed him to reach the very top of world football.

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