:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/6930425/144307140.jpg)
Full disclosure: There is nobody in the world who loves Luka Modric as much as I do. He wishes his mother loved him as much as I do.
Apparently Luka Modric isn't at training, which is not a surprise, yet some people are making it out to be something that matters. It doesn't.
Modric already spent last summer trying to move to Chelsea and while he did eventually stay, it did not come without drama. Even when the clubs were fighting through the press, Modric was saying that he wouldn't show up for training or that his heart wasn't in it and the drama continued until the window closed.
When the summer transfer window finally did close last year, everyone pretty much knew that if Tottenham did not qualify for the Champions League then last year would be Modric's last at White Hart Lane. For a player who could legitimately play and star for almost any team in the world, asking for Champions League football is normal. That is what Modric demanded, whether he said so or not.
So when Chelsea defeated Bayern Munich to win the Champions League in May and take a spot in the world's premier club competition away from Tottenham, Modric's fate was sealed. He would be moving away from Spurs. We knew that in May and we knew that now.
Modric did not show up to training yesterday. It is unlikely that he will be on the team's roster for their preseason U.S. tour. Some have speculated that he has simply ditched training as a way to force a transfer through, while others have said that Daniel Levy may have told Modric he didn't need to show up for fear that he could ruin a big money transfer if he got injured.
Whatever the reason that Modric is not at training doesn't matter. Go back to last summer and then the end of the transfer window -- everything said, "make the Champions League or find a new maestro in the middle". Spurs didn't get it done and for all intents and purposes, Modric stopped being a Tottenham player in May. Why be upset or even pretend it is news that a player who has not been a part of your club for two months isn't at training?
