Chelsea Transfer News: 5 Reasons to Be Delighted They Didn't Buy Luka Modric

Much of the transfer talk around Stamford Bridge this summer has been concerned with the move for Luka Modric. From the onset of the window in May right up to the dying hours this past Wednesday many believed the Croatian would get his wish to move to the Champions League club 10 miles south of White Hart Lane.

But the 2011 summer transfer window has come and gone with no deal being made. Whatever the rumors you wish to believe, the huge sums of money thrown at Harry Redknapp (£40 million was the rumored high offer) was not enough, suggesting that when he said Modric was not for sale, he meant it.

Chelsea fans have been split on whether the 25-year-old was the answer to the supposed lack of creativity in the midfield. Many believe that his ability to unlock staunch defenses is exactly what Chelsea needs. That he could be the long term replacement for the rapidly aging Frank Lampard.

This website has become a soap box of sorts for Chelsea fans to voice their opinions on the matter. Well over a dozen articles and hundreds of comments have been published claiming his superiority over the current Chelsea midfield. Others have touted him as a highly overrated prospect that could be the bust of the summer.

With him now surely set to spend at least the first half of the season with Spurs, all those points become mute. All we can do now, whether in favor of his transfer or not is accept that he will not be featuring for the Chelsea midfield anytime soon. So for those fans that are still upset over the blues inability to land him, here is one final article on the matter that will perhaps help alleviate your worries.

The Price

Much has been made about the details of this transfer attempt for Modric, but none have been as contentious as or more editorialized than the price put on his head.

Chelsea’s original offer was estimated to be around £22 million back in early June, attempting to low ball Spurs who have rated him at roughly £30 million. Chelsea upped their offer to £27 million in mid-June and began to consider a player swap with names like Drogba and Anelka the players named. In the closing days of the window, the estimates had ballooned to £40 million plus Yossi Benayoun and Salomon Kalou, which would have made him the most expensive player in club history.

Redknapp stayed strong and held his ground that his player was not for sale at any price. Even as he spent money in the waning days, and as his star began to publicly cry that he wished to be released, he refused offer after offer. He even went as far as to bench him for the opening match stating “his head is not in the right place.”

By the time the price had been inflated to the figures that it had, many fans thought that kind of spending was both outrageous for a player that many believe is good, but by no means anywhere near those numbers. But the argument of whether a player is worth a price is very subjective and been beaten to ad nauseam in blogs and papers.

However, Chelsea has over paid for players before. Yuri Zhirkov is a fine example of where perhaps the ego of Abramovich over shadowed good judgment. Instead, I believe the reason the price stopped the purchase of Modric more has to do with logistical reasons behind the scenes, than quality the player can show on the field.

The common misconception this summer is that Chelsea have been relatively quiet in transfers. However, this is quite the opposite when you look at their recent spending.

Over the past two transfer windows, Chelsea has spent a total of roughly £140 million. By comparison, Manchester United has spent just under £50 million and Liverpool £118 million. Even the big spenders of this summer, the ones who literally built a team over the break, only spent £100 million between the offseason and last winter.

If Chelsea was to pay out the amount of money it would have taken to pry him away from White Hart Lane, they would have spent more than double any other team in the Premier League.

Beyond the base figure comparisons, there is also the issue of UEFA’s new financial fair play rule (for a good break down of the rules click here). The rule is structured to keep teams from overspending and finding themselves in debt that only bankruptcy can get them out of. Couple this with Britain’s own policies that establish more accountability for club's finances, it is even more difficult to justify spending too much for any one player, especially one that is absent of any real marketability in the way of playing style or even as a home grown product.

The exact disciplinary actions that will be taken against teams that violate the FFP rules have not yet been agreed upon, as the system is working its way into effect over the next several years. But with Chelsea already starting £70.9 million in the hole, there is no reason to add to that when a return is highly unlikely.

The prospect of having a player like him on the field may seem ideal right now, but the financial implications could cause real headaches for the team years down the road. Right about the time that players like Lukaku, Romeu, McEachran and Sturridge are coming into their prime. It would be shame to damage those young players' future at the club for a questionable move right now.

Lack of Production When It Matters

Chelsea is looking to take back the Premier League crown as well as make a strong push in Champions League this year. Villas-Boas was hired because Abramovich believed he was the man who could orchestrate this. Though a majority of his signings are looking toward the future, there is no secret that the desire to win now is even more pressing.

Chelsea is looking at two very strong teams from Manchester, both which added to a lineup that were already formidable. Last season, Chelsea split the series with these two teams one win and one loss apiece.  But those losses were the deciders as they finished behind United and level on points with City.

Chelsea has placed second or better in seven of the last eight seasons in the Premier League. In that time, they have won three titles with Manchester United being their most consistent competitor. The team that Villas-Boas needs to build and prepare must be done so for the sole purpose of beating Manchester United.

Modric has performed less than admirably against United.  In 11 games against the Red Devils, he is winless with four draws and seven losses since he arrived at the Tottenham back 2008. This is not the kind of statistic that should warn Villas-Boas.

This year, Chelsea will also have to be concerned with Manchester City. The team Roberto Mancini has put together will no doubt challenge for the title. Modric has already seen this team and was mute point in the match. Some may argue that he was still focused on a potential move to Chelsea, but that is no excuse for showing nearly nothing on the field. His supposed mastery at being the lynch pin in the midfield was stymied by a City defense that has looked more vulnerable than expected.

These are the teams that Chelsea is in direct competition with to win the league. They have proven over the past few years that they have the quality necessary to handle the rest. It would not make sense to bring in a player that particularly struggles against these sides.

Furthermore, his pedigree in the Champions League is subpar as well. Since his days at Dianamo Zagreb, he has struggled to really perform well in the highest of stakes games. Must win situations see him become almost absent and teams that play with high speed and tempo, such as Madrid, run right by him and clog him up before he is able to play his game.

If he were to come to Chelsea, it would not be adding a player. It would be more of a mute point where he will help the team win games they should, but not give them the extra edge necessary in those matches that are the toughest.

Hype Built His Quality

It is difficult to make an argument that Modric is not a talented individual. He is the best Croatian currently playing and has been at the heart of a Tottenham side that has become a true contention to the top sides. His ability to play balls and set up his teammates to be in threatening positions has been on display since his days at Dinamo Zagreb.

But his production as a player never seems to quite exceed the praise laid upon him. Statistically, he would not match up against some of the Chelsea bench players.

In 119 appearances for Tottenham, he has only 16 assists and 12 goals. By comparison, the often injured Michael Essien has 17 goals and 11 assists in his last 116 games. They both have been involved in the same amount of goals scored, but Essien did it in three less games, often coming off injuries and provides a box to box mentality that Modric does not.

What about Raul Meireles, the player that was supposedly purchased in place of him? In his last three seasons, he has scored 14 goals and assisted on 19 others. He will most likely be a player who serves first off the bench and is used in a rotation with the other midfielders. He also cost less than a third of what it would have taken to get Modric.

The common argument used to defend his low numbers is that what he does cannot be statistically quantified. That for the most part is true. He does traditionally play a deep-lying role where he keeps himself in open space and supplies the ball up the attackers. He dictates the direction of the play with his decisions and more often than not, they are correct. If this statistics were kept in football as they are in hockey, he would have a great deal more assists as the second or third to last person to touch the ball before the goal.

However, this argument can be offset by looking at an interesting development in the transfer saga this summer. One that is very unusual for a player of this high of a caliber and being sought after by such a large club. Chelsea’s main opponent in the bidding war was in fact the stubbornness of Tottenham themselves, not another club.

This to me raises a red flag about the validity of the claim to Modric’s talents. If he was really the superstar that the media had made him out to be, then why was no one else in after him during the last few months? Manchester United, City, Liverpool and Arsenal were never once ruled to be making any kind of bid, even in the most gossipy of columns than more than once fabricate stories to sell papers. If Alex Ferguson is leaving him alone even as his primary rival pursues him, that should be an indicator that the hype is over blown.

Furthermore, City, the team that spent well beyond the scope of any other this summer, never made an offer for him either.  This would indicate that they believed him to be below James Milner, Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure and even Nigel de Jong on their depth chart. In all truth, he probably is. But when your pockets seem endless, it is in your favor strategically to put a bid in anyway. Should they out bid Chelsea, they would have taken him away from them and at the very least kept him from making Chelsea stronger. Should they not win the bid, they would drive up the price, to a point where Chelsea over pays and is not able to afford other players they desperately need or have to sell some off to cover their expense.

Even Villas-Boas himself never really seemed fully persuaded that he was the right player for his team. When asked about the prospect of Modric joining the Blues, this was his response:

"It depends on the club's decision, if they are willing to go forward or not, up to which value and whether they want to keep the interest in the player," he said. "It doesn't depend on me. It's not my money. We have to take sensible decisions or else you end up criticising us for other stuff. It depends on what you have available. On the price…on the age of the player that you get. Luka, on this particular occasion, is a young player but there would be, for sure, a sensible price to pay. We have approached Tottenham before regarding the player [Modric]. I don't know if it's viable or not and to what extent we can go regarding his price because we are speaking about a high amount and nothing else basically."

Not exactly the words you would expect to hear from a man that is in dire need of a players talents as has been assumed.

The fact that no one else wanted Modric, or even gave the appearance that they did, should suggest that he is not the player that he is hyped up to be.

The Myth of Creativity

The popular belief is that Chelsea’s title was lost last season behind a stagnant midfield that failed to break down more complex and staunch defenses. Lampard, Ramires, Mikel and Malouda were not playing with the same effectiveness they had at the beginning of 2010 and defenses started realizing that if they close down on them, they are not able to create chances like they were.

Going into this summer, Abramovich knew this issue had to be solved, so the first thing he did was get rid of the direct tactics of Ancelotti. Next, he hired the youthful vibrancy of Villas-Boas, who promised to bring ‘flair’ to the team. Finally, the players necessary to bring that flair showed up on the Chelsea rumor mill. From almost day one, Modric was touted as the most appropriate player for that role.

But a close analysis of the player would reveal a completely false pretense of him as the creative maestro Chelsea needs. Then where does this fictitious claim stem from?

Most of the supposed creativity that Modric possesses comes from the play of the players around him. Rafael van der Vaart, Gareth Bale and his fellow Croatian Niko Kranjcar are the true innovators of technique and fancy footwork on that squad. Even the speed of Aaron Lennon can allow him to create ‘wow!’ moments.

Modric makes strong runs at the defense and can break down weaker sides with them. He is deadly with the pass and can read the game with the best of them. But one thing he is not is the improviser Chelsea needs. Chelsea’s woes don’t reside in lack of creativity with the ball, but rather creativity in the mind. Someone who they can turn to when all else fails to see them through to victory. Modric has not been this player since his days at Zagreb, and cannot be expected to do it against the level of competition Chelsea meets.

But it does not necessarily take a well trained eye or hours studying game footage over the past three seasons to come to this conclusion. All you really need to do is go to YouTube and check out a highlight reel. Not only do a majority of the fanmade highlight clips repeat from one video to another, they flat out are not that overly impressive.

A highlight reel is meant to function as an ad campaign for your play. If a player had a job interview, then their resume is the amount of titles and accolades you won and this would be your interview. It is the moment where a fan is supposed to drop his jaw at your performance and think you are more than human.

Are there any moments in Modric’s highlights that really do this? Is there anything that is specific to him or you can see him doing on a game to game basis? For me, the answer is simply no.

There are a few moments where he looks impressive, but they are fleeting. Other times he will make a great run but not be able to finish. It just seems that the idea that he has an immense creativity to his game has been blown far out of proportion.

I do understand much of what Modric does is with his passing, but there are plenty of players who can put together a reel of great passes. Iniesta? Giggs? Xavi Alonso? These are the players Chelsea is competing with. It makes little sense to put all your chips on a player who is considerably below these guys, but expected to match them pass for pass.

Lampard Can Have His Swan Song

Over the past decade, the names and faces at Chelsea have changed considerably. The managers have been frequently replaced and the names they let go and bring in have made the club one of the most diversified and discontinuous clubs in the entire world. But one name, one player, one legend has stuck with Chelsea through the years and been the key to their rise to glory.

Frank Lampard arrived at Chelsea back in 2001 from West Ham for a bargain £11 million. A bright-eyed young Lamps was an instant success with the club and became a household name throughout the country in his first season. Over the past 10 years, he has helped Chelsea to three titles, three FA Cups and a Champions League Final. He also has been the club’s player of the year three times, league player of the year twice and was statistically the best player in all of England over the past decade.

All of this has made him legendary at Stamford Bridge.

In recent months, it has appeared that his age is beginning to catch up with him. He is not as quick on the ball as he once was. His speed is in decline. Injuries take a lot longer to come back from and he does not come back as strong. In short, the Lampard years at Chelsea are nearing an end.

Much of the ‘lack of creativity’ has been shouldered by Lampard’s decline. Fans and the media have pointed to number eight as he has traditionally been the fulcrum of that Chelsea attack. His 13 goals last season was his worst since his first two and the fact that the entire team was on a decline only compounded that fact.

If Modric were to come to Chelsea, the odds are he would have been a replacement for Lampard. They play roughly the same position and a very similar role. He is eight years younger that Lamps and someone who could fill the role well into the future.  

But perhaps the most obvious reason would be the difficulty in justifying that much money on the bench. Last year, the headache that was created with Torres’ massive price coming into the Blues was ultimately too much for Ancelotti to handle and cost him his job. The decision in who to play up top, the new £50 million pound golden child or the perennial fan favorite, is an agony that Villas-Boas still deals with today. He does not need to add another situation like that one to the list of problems he has to figure out.

I do understand that the best players must be out there to compete and win, but Lampard still provides something that Modric or any other Chelsea player cannot and can be the deciding factor in a match: penalties. Over the past decade, no one seems to have as cool ice water running through their veins as Lampard. His ability to put away penalty after penalty is uncanny in its nature and cannot be taught. With all the talent England and Chelsea have, he has been the chosen man to put on the spot whenever asked to. Should he play a poor 89 minutes of football, that one moment when he calmly steps up to the ball and places it around the outstretched arm of the goalie can justify choosing him for the match.

But as a loyal supporter, you should need no more reason to be happy that Modric will seen in a blue jersey other than the fact it will give Lampard the chance to show that he’s still got it and allow him one more opportunity to lead Chelsea back to glory.

Conclusion

The transfer window is not really for the clubs. Sure it is about them getting better, but for what purpose? To win and make the fans happy. The transfer window is really for the fans (and the papers to spread gossip and sell stories). With that in mind, the speculation and rumors, the managers' sly hints and the clubs' big spending is all designed to get us talking.

Chelsea fans have done a great job of voicing their opinion on the matter of Luka Modric. At this point, it is difficult to really gauge if a majority are upset that he will remain with Tottenham or delighted he won’t be seen in Chelsea blue. And it is impossible to tell if the move would have benefited immensely or been the bust of the summer.

At this point, all of that becomes mute as Chelsea and fans will have to wait another four months before the story can be enlivened again. However, it does not mean it still isn’t fun to speculate.

I have been on the nay side of this deal since it was first brought to light and I figure I would write one more time the reasons why it we should be happy it didn’t happen. This does not mean though that I am write. Do you think I am wrong? Am I missing something about Modric that everyone else sees? Should Chelsea have sold the farm for this Croatian magician?

Or am I right, but the reasons I have outlined aren’t enough? Was I not harsh enough? Did Chelsea just avoid a bullet that would have sunk them lower than they already are?

Like I said, the transfer window is for the fans. Everyone has an opinion, now let’s hear it.