What’s the story?
Despite missing out many games this season through injury, Darijo Srna has hailed former Croatian teammate Luka Modric as the best midfielder in the world. The 34-year-old has insisted that Madrid’s excellent form this season has been mainly down to Modric. Real Madrid, who, went on a 40 game winning streak, which was ended in January by a hard-working Sevilla in the dying minutes of the match
Srna in an interview with MARCA has said, “Modric is the best midfielder in the world at the moment. No doubt. I'm not saying one of the best, I'm saying he is the best,” He further added that “Luka has grown over the years, I think he is now at his peak. Since he arrived he has been improving with the team. Real Madrid are having a great run of results, but without Luka they would have problems.”
In case you didn’t know...
Darijo Srna was a Barcelona target during the winter transfer window and almost joined the Catalans. But economic reasons and Aleix Vidal’s rise to form caused the transfer to be scrapped. Srna, on the other hand, has been a Shakhtar player for the last 14 years and had no reason to leave the club, but he was never a long-term solution.
His experience, composure and high energy levels would have been something that Barcelona would have welcomed, but his age could have proved to be a major problem, as at 34 he’s closer to retirement than any other current Barcelona player.
Also Read: 5 best midfielders above the age of 30
The heart of the matter...
Srna has played 134 games for Croatia before he finally retired in August of last year. During that time, the right-back played with both Luka Modric and Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic and had claimed that the Real Madrid midfielder is the best the in the world.
The right back during an interview preferred not to talk about what happened during negotiation with Barcelona. Srna even said instead that he has complete confidence in the fact that Rakitic will make a comeback and return to the Barcelona side.
What’s next?
With Srna’s comment, MARCA has conducted a survey so as to find out the best midfielder’s in the world, among a group of 15 players which include Andres Iniesta, Eden Hazard and Paul Pogba, among others. Darijo Srna, on the other hand, seems to have created controversy and then gotten off scot-free.
Sportskeeda take
With football changing all around the world, people’s opinions will also change as to who’s the best midfielder in the world. While Srna says it’s his former Croatian teammate Luka Modric, it seems that 45% of the vote in MARCA’s survey has gone to Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta, who has a long list of trophies and achievements during his Barcelona career, including four Champions League trophies.
