Tuttosport: What Modric said to Allegri that forced midfield position change

The role that Massimiliano Allegri and AC Milan envisaged for Luka Modric is not the one he is currently operating in, a report claims.

Modric was perhaps the biggest name that Milan signed in the summer transfer window as he joined after his contract at Real Madrid expired. As the most decorated player in the long history of Los Blancos, the switch to join his boyhood club Milan generated a lot of attention.

There was a lot of deliberation about the role that the Croatian would play and how Allegri would configure the midfield. Modric has played in a three-man midfield or a double pivot, with the coach opting to go with the former thus far.

According to Tuttosport (via MilanPosts) this morning, Modric was originally signed to play as a mezzala – a box-to-box player – but he immediately made it clear to Allegri that he preferred to operate in the centre to dictate the tempo.

That is exactly where he has played so far, as the deeper-lying of the three to try and create from a deeper position. Whether that changes based on Samuele Ricci’s playing time and the return of Ardon Jashari remains to be seen.