Why Luka Modric Is Not the Player Chelsea Needs To Sign This Summer

Wait—really?

Yes. Really.

In recent weeks, Chelsea articles have been flooded with transfer speculation, and most of that speculation has centered on a certain Croatian midfield playmaker who plays for Tottenham.

Many fans believe that Modric would be the perfect midfield addition, especially in the wake of an injury to Essien that has him out until Boxing Day.

Here is why I do not think that Modric is the best option for the Chelsea midfield.

First, let’s look at some statistics from Modric’s past few seasons at White Hart Lane.

Luka Modric—Statistics from 2010-11 Season

Goals	3	Shots	54
Assists	2	Shooting Accuracy (%)	43%
Passes per match	63	Total Crosses	68
Pass completion in final third (%)	77%	Cross Completion (%)	24%
Dribbles	113	Tackles per match	11
Dribble Completion (%)	61%	Tackles Won (%)	54

(*stats from soccerlens.com)

Statistical Analysis

These statistics give us some information on Modric’s playing style. He is not a prolific goalscorer, and he does not even create many assists. He does not create many chances from crosses either.

He is essentially an engine in midfield and a great passer.

He creates attacking chances not by assisting on goals, but rather by spraying incisive passes from a deep-seated position that lead other, more attack-minded players towards goal, where they can assist and finish chances effectively.

This is evidenced by the key statistic listed above: His pass completion in the final third is set at 77 percent, an exciting number for a deep-lying playmaker.

Modric is also surprisingly effective at breaking up possession in midfield, with an average of 11 tackles won per match. I say "surprisingly" because he is slight of stature for a defensive-minded midfielder, at 5'8" (1.75m) and 148 lbs (67kg).

Chelsea fans know that size means nothing when it comes to defensive quality, though—Ramires is a twig and regularly wins the ball back with a high-energy level and pure determination.

Chelsea’s Current Midfield

This is all great news for a player linked with Chelsea, so why do I say he is not the right player for the job? Think for a second about Chelsea’s first-team midfielders.

Chelsea generally plays a 4-3-3, a formation which calls for three different types of midfielders.

First is the attacking midfielder. This position is pretty well taken care of by Frank Lampard, a prolific goal scorer who has been stifled lately, but is still effective on the whole (we will cover that in another article).

As backup, Benayoun provides a quality, if different, attack-minded force in midfield. At Liverpool, Benayoun linked up with attackers well, scoring a number of vital goals for them as a super-sub.

Josh McEachran, Chelsea’s biggest hope for the future, has the flexibility to play as a classic No. 10 attacking midfielder, or to cover in either of the other midfield positions. Currently, he provides great cover for any position in midfield in which he may be needed.

Second is the defensive midfielder. John Obi Mikel is the stalwart in this position, and despite his occasional lapses in concentration, he provides quality distribution and a strong defensive force that has earned him the starting spot in one of the most vital positions on the team. Most importantly, he is only 24 years old, and he should be central to the squad’s youth movement moving forward.

As backup here, we have our new signing, Oriol Romeu, a young, strong midfielder who showed at the U-20 World Cup that he is strong in the challenge and a great distributor of the ball.

Third is the engine, typically placed slightly on the right side of midfield, between the attacker and the defensive/holding midfielder. Michael Essien is our star in this position, but due to injury Ramires has taken over the position and made it his own.

Ramires can run forever, is a threat on the attack and constantly wins back possession. The big problem is that he has no cover, aside from McEachran (who is showing great flashes of skill, but is about a year away from being ready for the big time).

So, this leaves us with two big questions: (1) Where would Modric fit into in our system, and (2) would he be a big improvement over our current players at that position?

To answer the first question, I believe that Modric has flexibility, but would most likely fit into either the engine or the holding midfielder position. He is not going to displace Lampard because he is not an attack-minded midfielder, as we saw from his statistics.

More importantly, is Modric an improvement over Ramires/Mikel? My answer to that question is: not really. Before somebody out there screams and throws their computer out the window, claiming that I think John Obi Mikel is better than Luka Modric, hear me out.

Modric Is Not Right for Chelsea

Of course Modric is a more cultivated player, and probably a better player, than either Ramires or Mikel. He should be. He is a year older than both, and he has been in the Premier League longer than Ramires.

But my reason for saying that I prefer Ramires and Mikel to Modric is that they would perform better in their positions than Modric would, in Chelsea’s current system. Modric is an awesome player, but he is NOT an engine and he is NOT a holding midfielder. He is a deep-lying midfield playmaker, and Villas-Boas would have to change Chelsea’s tactics dramatically to accommodate him.

Do you get rid of the engine? If so, expect to lose your best man at putting pressure on the ball and your player with the highest work rate. With his tackles in the final third, Ramires has contributed a number of vital goals to the squad since he began playing regularly in January. His pressure is vital in our current system.

Do you get rid of the holding midfielder? Then expect to give up some goals because you lost your best defensive cover. Mikel has performed admirably at the thankless job of making Chelsea the best defensive unit in the world.

Sure, our chances in the attacking half would improve, and Modric may even be able to fill in effectively in a defensive aspect in midfield. But mark my words, having Mikel’s 6'2" frame in the box to help out on corners and free kicks will be missed sorely if he were to be replaced by Modric.

Additionally, Modric blocks out our young players even more. McEachran, Romeu and Mikel would have another body in front of them, blocking their development for a short-term boost.

In Conclusion

I think Modric is an outstanding talent, and I love watching him play. I’ll even support the management if they decide to sign him because any major signing is one that deserves the support of the fans.

But at the end of the day, I think Chelsea needs to sign someone who will slot in well in a position that we actually need. Maybe a Cheik Tioté as the engine, or a Daniele de Rossi as the defensive midfielder (who has a much better long-range shot than Mikel, by the way).

People treat the Chelsea formation like it is a broken system.

It is not.

This is essentially the same squad and formation that scored a record 103 goals in the 2009-10 season. They just signed a world-class playmaker in Juan Mata from Valencia. They signed four great, young talents this summer who will contribute to the youth revolution at Chelsea in coming years.

Last year's midseason debacle was primarily due to a number of injuries to key players (Lampard, Drogba, Essien, Terry, Alex) who did not have quality replacements.

The system is a great one, and the addition of Modric would badly disrupt it.

Maybe Andre Villas-Boas is the manager to implement a completely new system, but if he tried and failed, it could be catastrophic for Chelsea's chances this season and in the coming years as well.

For now, Chelsea needs to adhere to the old adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."