With Spain and Germany about to put Euro 2008 to bed, the focus will soon return to the transfer window.

With English Premier League teams being linked with players left and right, the Bleacher Report wanted to shine the light on Euro 2008’s brightest stars who are set to enter the world’s best league.

Though rumors are swirling around the likes of David Villa, Andrei Arshavin, David Silva, and Lukas Podolski, this will focus on the three biggest stars of Euro 2008 who have already signed on for Premier League football.

Luka Modric
Age: 22
Country: Croatia
Former Club: Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Current Club: Tottenham Hotspur
Price Tag: £15.8 million

Background: Luka Modric was very much the “hot name” floating around news sources and football fans. The diminutive (5-foot-8) central midfielder seemed destined to leave Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, in search of greener pastures. 

Modric was courted by Premier League heavyweights Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea but spurned them for a ticket to White Hart Lane. This move suits Modric well, because, at Spurs, he will be guaranteed a place and likely will grow into the maestro of Spurs’ midfield.

At the big three, he could have been one of many highly talented, inexperienced, and rarely used players.

Positives:  As he has shown over his young career that he is one of the finest young, creative midfielders in the world. He has the ability to play just behind the forwards and feed them pinpoint, cutting passes. 

He can also, as he does for Croatia, sit in just ahead of the fullbacks and use his quick touch, pace, and dribbling skills to control possession for his team. He also can be a lethal finisher, but I expect that he will be doing more creating for Keane, Bent (maybe), Berbatov (unlikely), and whichever new forward Juande Ramos brings in. 

With top class strikers in front of him, expect Modric, if he stays healthy, to be one of the leading assist men in the EPL next year.

Negatives: Some worry that he is too small to excel in the physically demanding EPL. True, his build is more Terri Hatcher than John Terry, but there have been many undersized players to flourish at his position. 

He’s about the same size as rival Arsenal playmaker Cesc Fabregas, as well as Liverpool’s tough tackling Javier Mascherano. However, these men have proven that they are tougher than their stature indicates, we’ll have to see if Luka can follow suit.

Performance at Euro 2008: Many have called him one of the players of the tournament. I agree. If it were not for a fluke loss against Turkey, Croatia would have tried their luck against Germany in the semis.

Also, if Croatia had any sort of quality in their strike force, Modric easily could have led the tournament in assists (i.e. the perfect ball he laid out to Ivica Olic against Turkey, right in front of goal, that he somehow put over the bar). 

Coach Slaven Bilic was so pleased with his performance he claimed; “Only Kaka is better than Modric. He’s unstoppable, hard even to foul.”

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