I will stick with Tottenham Hotspur: Luka Modric

On the radar of Manchester United, Croatian midfielder Luka Modric tells DNA that for now he is staying with Tottenham Hotspur as he believes the club can achieve a lot of bigger things.

You’ve adapted well in the Premier League considering you are not the biggest person to be playing in such a hard area of the pitch?
It is true. In the beginning, when I came here, I had some problems in adapting. I needed maybe one month, two months... To begin with, we had bad results and that was also a problem for me. But when Harry Redknapp came, he started putting me on the left with more freedom or behind the striker and then I started playing better and better. Last year, for the first time, he decided to put me in the middle against Stoke and we won. I played really well in that position. After that, we had three hard games against Chelsea, Arsenal and then Man City away and we qualified for a Champions League spot. He also put me in the middle for those games and he was happy. I said this position suits me best maybe because I play there in Croatia all the time and I didn’t have any problems finding myself in that position. I wasn’t worried about it being hard for me.

How hard will it be not being in the Champions League having had great nights against the Milan teams?
It will be hard because being in the Champions League for the first time, we did a great job and played some great games against big teams. We enjoyed it, but we didn’t manage to qualify and it is going to be hard watching on television next season. We need to prepare and try again for  the fourth spot, maybe third or second — I don’t know. If we hadn’t had that bad run in the last two-and-a half months, we could have been in the top two or three easily, but we had a bad run and that is football.

Why do you think that happened?
I don’t know, I think, we played well in a lot of games but couldn’t manage to win or kill the game when we needed to. Maybe some injuries, or we were a little tired from playing a lot of hard games.

It does sound like your intention is to stick with Tottenham?
Yes, it is true. I am happy and enjoying it here. The fans are amazing, the club is amazing, My fellow Croatians are here — I am not missing anything. I think this club can achieve a lot of great things, I think we can fight for trophies, the EPL or cups. Like I said, I am happy here and not thinking about anything else.

You have a contract until 2016?
Yes, I signed it last summer. It is important to commit yourself to the club that pays you and treats you well.

When you played in Bosnia you said you could play anywhere. Once you arrived in England did you worry that it might have been a bit premature?
Yes, I did think it that way, I said it was a hard league and I was young — 17-years-old — when I played there. It does not have the quality of EPL but it helped in making me stronger. When I first came here to England, everything was so quick! I remember in my first game at White Hart Lane, everything was so fast, I heard it in my ears, you know a sort of whoosh, some noises in my ears that made it cloudy... and I knew I needed to change a little bit, start playing quicker and releasing the ball quicker. Afterwards, game by game, I felt better and better. 

Who has been your toughest opponent, either in Europe or the EPL?
It was hard playing against Real Madrid and also against AC Milan at home. It was tough against Xabi Alonso but from the English league it is always hard playing against the likes of Scott Parker, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.

As a creative player, you would always be kicked and it has been said that your father made you wooden shin pads — is that true?
No, it isn’t true! I don’t know where it came from. I’ve always had shin pads like everyone else. Getting kicked makes you tougher and that is good.

Arsene Wenger questioned whether you could cope with the physical side of the English game at Euro 2008?
I think he was not the only one to question whether I could make it in a hard league like EPL. Those people gave me more determination to show everyone that I could cope with the EPL and its demands.

Beyond going out and playing hard, you don’t look like you’ve been in the gym?
My father is strong in his legs and I get that from him. Maybe that is the reason why I am strong in the tackle. I have talked about going to the gym for two or three months, but stopped after one month because it is not for me. You need the gym for some strengthening, but not for weights — I don’t like them.

People from your part of the world seem to have an inner strength, perhaps because of the journey you’ve all had to come through. There seems to be a determination in the Croats...
It is true, we have got that in ourselves because of things that have happened and the war also made us stronger than other people maybe. What we have been through wasn’t easy. But everything made us tougher and stronger and sometimes if it is hard in your life and something has happened that doesn’t break you, it makes you tougher. It is hard to break us.

Your father (Stipe) used his pay from the army to send you to a football school?
Yes, it is true. Before we had a football school and at the time it was 500 German Marks if you wanted to go there for 10 days. My father paid it. It was a lot of money at that time and that could have bought a lot of food. He always tried to find a way to help me and put me into football schools. He always managed to find a way. I have a strong relationship with my family (parents and two sisters) and we talk every day on the phone.

Nobody knows much about you?
No special reason. I am quiet and that is it. I don’t like to talk too much in the media. I am a football player and just want to play football, not do magazines or other stuff. I don’t like it. I am a family man with a son of 11 months — I am happy and enjoying my life.