Carrying the ball

There was much about modern football that left the late Alan Ball thoroughly disillusioned — but if the topic of conversation ever turned to Paul Scholes, his face would light up. "When I watch Paul Scholes play football, I smile," he would say. It can be safely assumed that Ball, the man of the match in the 1966 World Cup final, would have derived similar enjoyment from Luka Modric's performances during the past four seasons with Tottenham. Harry Redknapp, for one, regularly cites the pleasure of just watching Modric, even in training, as one of the factors behind his continued appetite for football management. Comparisons with a player of Scholes's stature are clearly hazardous but, of the next generation of central midfielders, Modric is surely the Premier League's closest heir. Both are outstanding passers of the ball; both are reliable scorers and goal providers but, above all, both share a rare ability to dictate the tempo of a match. They are similarly shy off the pitch, but renowned for their training-ground diligence. With Modric 11 years younger than Scholes, he is often suggested as the most obvious long-term like-for-like replacement for Manchester United. It certainly felt significant to hear Sir Alex Ferguson talking in such glowing terms about the Croatian ahead of last Sunday's White Hart Lane meeting between the sides. Intelligent "Scholes and Modric are both intelligent footballers, both influence their teams," he said. "When Scholes is on form, he influences our team and so does Modric for Spurs. It is a reasonable comparison. "I don't think they are identical players but they have the same qualities in terms of control of the game and their passing consistency is good. But the one thing people underestimate about Modric is that he has terrific stamina." Redknapp also repeatedly highlights Modric's "toughness". His qualities were clearly shaped during a childhood growing up during the Croatian War of Independence, then by playing for Zrinjski Mostar in the physical Bosnia and Herzegovina league. Transfer target The looming question is whether Modric could become an attainable transfer target for Ferguson. United were interested observers in the saga that surrounded Modric last summer, but the only serious bidders were Chelsea, who failed with offers that rose to £40 million (Dh231.74 million). Modric, though, was clear that he wanted to leave and he is yet to accept improved terms at Tottenham. The basic problem would appear to be financial. Tottenham could potentially offer Modric almost double his money, from around £50,000 a week to £90,000, but Chelsea could treble his wages. Manchester United could also go beyond £100,000 a week without endangering their wage structure. The feeling with United is that they will not get involved in a bidding war and would certainly not stretch to £40 million but would be interested at a lower price. Ferguson praised Tottenham's handling of the situation last summer. "I think it swung the players around, too, that they decided to hold on to Modric against what we thought was a big Chelsea bid and it's an indication that they meant business," he said. Encounter A direct comparison with Scholes was not possible when United beat Tottenham 3-0 earlier in the season. Scholes was then in retirement while Modric had dropped out of the game because, in Redknapp's words, "his head was not right" amid the interest from Chelsea. Their most recent encounter again failed to provide what would have been a fascinating head-to-head contest, with Redknapp choosing to shunt Modric out to the left wing in the forlorn hope of filling the void left by the absence of Gareth Bale. And with so much uncertainty at Spurs — and chairman Daniel Levy still holding the trump card over Modric with a contract until 2016 — the long-term future is difficult to predict.