Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp says that Chelsea’s signing of Juan Mata will likely kill their prospects of signing Luka Modric as well.
GettyImagesLuka Modric joined Spurs from Dinamo Zagreb in 2008
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Modric has been linked with a £35 million move to Stamford Bridge all summer and has expressed his desire to quit the club, however Chelsea announced on Sunday that they have agreed a deal to sign Spanish international Mata from Valencia for around £25 million.
Now Redknapp believes that Mata’s arrival in England could mean that his player stays at White Hart Lane this month.
“Chelsea have signed him?” Redknapp told talkSPORT. “I didn’t know that. Well, I would think that’s the end of the Modric deal then, surely. I would [think the Mata deal has killed the Modric move]. I had no idea about that.”
Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy handles all transfer business at the club and Redknapp admitted that he thought he was close to bringing Mata in himself.
“We tried to get [Mata], to be honest with you. We were in for him strong about three weeks ago,” said Redknapp. “I was driving back from the pre-season game with Brighton and the chairman said that he was confident he was going to sign the boy that night. He obviously turned it down but [the Chelsea move] has come out of the blue.”
Modric has hit out at Levy over broken promises that he would be allowed to leave, but Redknapp is confident that he will stay.
“I think Daniel [Levy] has said he will sit down with Luka in a month or so and have a chat with him and a look at his contract,” said Redknapp. “I want to keep him for sure. I just felt that if he didn’t want to be here that much that maybe we might have to sell him. If people don’t want to play for you, you might have to sell him and go and get three or four players in.
“As a player I couldn’t be happier to keep Luka Modric, he’s a fantastic footballer and as I’ve said many times you couldn’t meet a nicer boy.”
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