Luka Modric is now entering the final years of his career. Although the Croatian is still considered one of the best midfielders in the world and may be able to play for two or three more years at the top, Real Madrid must now be prepared to find a replacement.
At the age of 33, Modric was no longer young and his abilities must have decreased over time. However, Matteo Kovacic also did not have a good season together at Chelsea.
Madrid still has Dani Ceballos who has the potential to replace Modric. Unfortunately, Ceballos gets less chance and plays less in La Liga than Modric.
Now Madrid face a big task to replace their most valuable midfielder. Madrid are experienced laborers to take over the Ballon d’Or winner at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Here are three players that Real Madrid can consider to be Luka Modric’s replacement as reported by Sportskeeda.
Paul Pogba
Paul Pogba is currently undergoing a brilliant season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Even when the French midfielder got a lot of criticism in the era of Jose Mourinho, he was still linked with Real Madrid. Judging from his abilities, the Manchester United player had some similarities with Modric as he was able to create a number of key passes and excellent dribbling abilities.
Pogba is a very technical player, and his agility makes it easier to find his teammates in giving bait. He also made eight assists in the league this season, far better than Modric who only packed four.
Regardless of his playing ability, Pogba is known for his long distance and sharper shots from Modric in terms of scoring goals. This ability will help Madrid in situations when the opponent defends in total or when Los Blancos desperately need a goal. In terms of productivity, Pogba is arguably an upgrade from Modric.
Miralem Pjanic
Miralem Pjanic is considered by many to be one of the best midfielders in Serie A. A very successful season at AS Roma ultimately made Juventus recruit him at a high enough price. Now Pjanic is an important player at Juventus and has been a major player in Massimiliano Allegri for three seasons.
The 28-year-old may not be as technic as Modric. Even so, he could match or even be an upgrade from the Croatian midfielder in terms of creating many opportunities and helping his team-mates.
This season, Pjanic has made twice as many key passes as Modric and this will help Gareth Bale, who is struggling to score more goals. The Bosnian midfielder is also known for his excellent pass accuracy.
This season, Pjanic completed an average of 92.1 percent of his passes in Serie A, slightly better than Modric’s 89.4 and this could help facilitate Madrid’s attack when they dominated possession.
Christian Eriksen
Christian Eriksen is a versatile player who can play as well as a central midfielder, attacking midfielder or even as a winger. That could make Eriksen help Madrid with more than just being Modric’s substitute in midfield because he could also play a more attacking role after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and the decline in Gareth Bale’s performance this season.
The former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger stated that Eriksen could score more goals than Modric. The Dane made an instant impact after joining Tottenham Hotspur from Ajax in 2013 by scoring 7 goals in the league and playing as a regular for the North London club on his debut season.
The 27-year-old has become one of the top playmakers in the Premier League, and he is still on fire this season by scoring five goals and making nine assists in 23 league appearances.
