Tottenham Hotspur Turned Down £40m For Luka Modric

During an impromptu car park interview with Sky Sports' Gary Cotterill that started with a beautiful tribute to Alan Partridge as Cotterill shouted at the Spurs boss across the tarmac, Harry Redknapp has confirmed that he understands Chelsea tabled a massive £40m bid to land Luka Modric. The bid was turned down, which will surely rank as either the best or worst decision of this transfer window depending on how Tottenham fair going forward over the next few months, and Modric will now stay with the North London club according to his current manager until January at least. So that's it, the longest transfer saga of the summer still to be going on has been extinguished, and Chelsea have failed to get their man. A victory for the clubs not run by oligarch billionaires and Sheikhs perhaps, but £40m? That's an astronomical amount, given that Cesc Fabregas went for a lower fee, and goalscorers like Andy Carroll cost £35m, and Tottenham have to be confident in what they can achieve come the end of the season if they are happy to turn down that sort of money. But, watch this space for January though, as money invariably talks and Chelsea do have an awful lot of it.