Luka Modric, The Little One Who Conquered The Premier League

Luka Modric has a brilliant career (Instagram/@lukamodric10).

Luka Modric is emotionally separated from Real Madrid. At dusk of his career, he will move to AC Milan for the 2025/2026 season.

Los Blancos' defeat to Paris Saint-Germain 0-4 in the 2025 Club World Cup semifinals, Thursday, July 10, 2025, early morning WIB, was the last match for Luka Modric at Real Madrid.

Apart from that separation, Luka Modric has given color in the world of football. The 2018 Ballon d'Or winner has had a brilliant career.

In fact, Gareth Bale - Modric's colleagues since they were still at Tottenham Spurs - initially did not think the midfielder had such great abilities and could beat the Premier League.

Bale knows very well Modric's abilities. The two spent four seasons together at Spurs. Modric then moved closer to the Santiago Bernabeu a season before Bale in 2012.

No wonder Bale has an ideal position to evaluate the quality of the Croatian player.

"A great footballer. The first time at Tottenham, he was very small and I was young at that time."

"However, you never thought he would be able to keep up with the pace of the Premier League. Then he got the ball, lowered his shoulders, kept everyone away from him, and he kept getting better."

"I always call it good wine, it keeps getting better with age," Bale said.

Bale further believes that Modric still has quality even though he is currently 39 years old.

The matter of leaving Real Madrid is not about quality, but the club's efforts to find Modric's successor at a younger age.

"I think he could say he could still keep playing. However, I think Real Madrid want to recruit young players and continue. Otherwise, he's going to be like holding back."

"He's an amazing player, not only for Real Madrid, but also for world football. It's been fun playing with him for those years," Bale said.