Luka Modric Pledges Future to Real Madrid After Winning 2018 Ballon d'Or
New Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modric has pledged his future to Real Madrid, insisting he wants to retire at the Bernabeu and has no plans to leave the club despite being heavily linked with a move to Inter in recent months.
Modric was declared the best player in the world in Paris on Monday night when he was presented with the Ballon d'Or trophy, the first recipient of the award other than Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi since Kaka won the accolade back in 2007.
But while speculation was rife in summer that he wanted to join Inter, the 33-year-old Croatian hero has declared his intention to stay in Madrid until at least the end of his current contract, which is due to expire in the summer of 2020, shortly before his 35th birthday.
"I have two years left and hopefully one more," Modric is quoted as saying by Marca.
"The club show me a lot of affection and I'd like to retire at Real Madrid. My family enjoy it and I want to keep enjoying this huge club," he added.
Whether Real share that vision remains to be seen. The most recent rumors linking Modric with Inter alleged that Los Blancos have so far been unwilling to offer a fresh contract to the player that meets the wages supposedly being requested.
If that is indeed the case and Inter were to make an offer in summer it might be too good for Real to turn down. It is, however, worth noting that the source of that rumor was Italian and therefore is likely to be looking at the situation from Inter's side.
