It's not that so much (though it's a valid point), it's more the prices of players on the market. I mean last year Nasri (with a year left on his contract) went for £25m, Mata for £24m, Aguero for £35m, Jones for £18m, Young for £18m, Lukaku for £20m. All of which means that Spurs will have to pay a lot more to replace Modric, and because the £25m-£30m wouldn't all go on transfers, it makes it very difficult to replace him. But if they keep him and he wants to leave, you're getting an unhappy Modric. They had that with Berbatov (their best player at the time too ironically) and he kicked his heels in, became moody, and the fans started booing him. Who would they get? Well, he might be good, but not as good as Modric.
Personally I'd break the bank to buy Modric, he's that sort of player who wouldn't look at all out of place here, he's very creative, scores goals and link our play so well. I don't think he's worth £40m personally (£35m at an absolute maximum) but if we have to pay that much, so be it. We can afford to because the money's available ("You're £450m in debt!" "Yeah but we made a £100m profit last year, that's what matters") and in this market to buy the very best, you have to pay the big money.
On the "Webster Ruling" something similar nearly happened last year with us and Blackburn. Basically we offered the £18m which was needed to spring the clause in Jones's contract allowing him to negotiate freely with us. Blackburn's owners very nearly committed a breach of contract by nearly accepting a reported bid from Liverpool which was higher. Had they accepted that Jones's contract would have been null and void, and we'd have got him for nothing. Just as well they had a legal team who weren't thick.
Personally I'd break the bank to buy Modric, he's that sort of player who wouldn't look at all out of place here, he's very creative, scores goals and link our play so well. I don't think he's worth £40m personally (£35m at an absolute maximum) but if we have to pay that much, so be it. We can afford to because the money's available ("You're £450m in debt!" "Yeah but we made a £100m profit last year, that's what matters") and in this market to buy the very best, you have to pay the big money.
On the "Webster Ruling" something similar nearly happened last year with us and Blackburn. Basically we offered the £18m which was needed to spring the clause in Jones's contract allowing him to negotiate freely with us. Blackburn's owners very nearly committed a breach of contract by nearly accepting a reported bid from Liverpool which was higher. Had they accepted that Jones's contract would have been null and void, and we'd have got him for nothing. Just as well they had a legal team who weren't thick.
