Tottenham midfielder Niko Kranjcar

Harry Redknapp fondness for a Croatian footballer is well documented and having managed 8 of them during his time as a manager, it is clear there is something about them as individuals that make them stand out from the rest. Judging by what I have been in reading in the past week it must be their incredible professionalism that must appeal; a trait that seems to unfortunately be missing by a majority of Premier League footballers these days.

In a day and age where footballer’s arrogance and ego are proving their own undoing, where being dropped sees the player speaking out in the press, or their agents demanding preferential treatment otherwise their client will move on; it is refreshing to see three footballers provide a welcome change from the norm.

Tottenham’s Croatian trio, Luka Modric, Vedran Corluka and Niko Kranjcar have all spoken out in the past two weeks about their current plights. Both Corluka and Modric have suggested that their standards have dropped this season and will be doing their damndest to ensure that they work harder on the training pitch in order to improve. Niko Kranjcar is yet to start a Premier League game this season and realistically has every right to feel disappointed, (given his performances last season) has quashed all talk of a transfer away as a result of the lack of first team football and suggested that Spurs is the club he wants to be at and will just continue to work hard and look to seize any opportunity that comes his way. I ask the question as to how many other Premier League footballers will be so honest about their performances and plight. I think we can count on two hands the amount of players that do and it is one of the reasons why the game is going to the dogs.