Arbeloa: Modric is a great midfielder

Posted Sunday, July 15, 2012 by ESPN

Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa believes that Tottenham's Luka Modric is a great player and he is glad the Croatian could be on his way to Spain.

The former Liverpool player regularly used to come up against the dimunutive playmaker whenever the Reds faced Tottenham in the Premier League. And most recently, Arbeloa was also part of the Spanish back four that had to face Modric and the rest of the Croatia attack in Euro 2012.

His experience against the player has convinced him that Modric would be a suitable signing for Los Merengues.

A deal is expected to be wrapped up for the Croatian playmaker over the weekend taking him to Madrid for the new season. But it is believed that new Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas is seeking to establish a dialogue with Porto midfielder Joao Moutinho's representatives first in order to line up the Portuguese international as Modric's likely replacement.

Arbeloa, currently in Indonesia, participated in a charity match alongside team-mate Pepe and when asked by Kompas.com to give his opinion on the potential new signing, he gave a favourable review.

"Modric is a great player, I'm glad he could join Real Madrid," said Arbeloa.
"We have many good midfielders, so he will have to compete for a spot."

The Portuguese central defender gave only a short reply to the same question: "I know he's a good player."

The defenders played alongside selected footballers against Team Garuda Plus and endured a 1-0 defeat in the charity match on Friday.