Why Luka Modric will be another wasteful buy for Chelsea

The creative dexterity ofCroatian born midfield generalissimo,Luka Modric is not in doubt, particularly as shown in the last EnglishPremiership season as well as Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League debut last season. The huge speculations of Chelsea’sinterest in the Croatian who captained Spurs to clinch the just ended VodacomChallenge in South Africa,with a £37m reported bid would have been perfect, considering the lack ofcreativity shown by the club’s midfielders in the 2010 – 2011 Barclay’sPremiership Season. But despite Luka Modric’s unarguable talent, any moneyspent to bring him to Chelseawould amount to a huge waste because no Chelsea Manager has shown the willpower to bench Frank Lampard whose form and pace was suspect last season, nothanks to injury and age.

Seasoned soccer analysts andfollowers will agree that one of the reasons Chelsea’s attackers fired blank inthe business end of last season was as a result of a huge disconnect betweenthe midfield creative role which could not provide incisive passes to the likesof Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres and Nikolas Anelka. Unlike in the past whenLampard usually scores average 20 goals per season as well as provide cuttingedge passes for Didier Drogba and other Chelsea’smarksmen, the England International could not provide the much needed assists.It is this role that Luka Modric is expected to play, but experience has shownthat no Chelsea Manager is ready to play Frank Lampard from the bench to atleast give other players a chance. Anyone who has followed Luka Modric willagree that the Croatian dictates the pace of the midfield when he is given afree role to play directly behind two strikers, with two defence mindedmidfielders behind him or one other creative player alongside a very strongdefensive minded player seating in front of the central defence.

This natural and prolificrole played by the Croatian is exactly what Frank Lampard does for Chelsea,while Israeli born, Yosef Shai Benayoun bought from Liverpoolequally fits perfectly into that position. Anyone who is in doubt aboutBenayoun’s creative ability should remember his hay days at Liverpool andfollow Chelsea’spre season friendlies. If he remains injury free and Chelsea’s new manager, Andre Villas-Boasdecides to retain Frank Lampard in that creative role, spending a whopping£37million on Luka Modric would amount to another wasted investment by RussianBillionaire, Roman Abramovich. The only player being reported to have attractedChelsea’sinterest that will immediately fix the crack in the Blues midfield is Everton’sBelgian born, Marouane Fellaini. He is the perfect replacement for ClaudeMakalele and Michael Essien due to his commanding display at the Toffeesmidfield last season. He does very strong defensive jobs and provides accuratepasses upfront.

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