Luka Modric believes his failed move to Chelsea from Tottenham in 2011 was a blessing in disguise.
The Croatian midfielder had expressed his desire to join the Blues in the summer of 2011, only for Spurs to reject several bids from Chelsea for Modric.
Modric joined Real Madrid a year later, where he played for 13 seasons and lifted a record 28 titles while also winning the 2018 Ballon d'Or.
"Perhaps I shouldn't have said so publicly that I wanted to leave," Modric, now at AC Milan, said on the Neuspjeh prvaka show.
"Even so, I did very well at Tottenham. They were very tough on me, and the chairman, Daniel Levy, made it crystal clear in our first meeting [that] there was absolutely no chance they would let me go. After that, I carried on as if nothing had happened. I knew it would be complicated; both clubs are in London, and there's a rivalry."
- Luka Modric tells new club AC Milan: 'Average' not acceptable
- Pulisic is having his best season ever: Why the USMNT star's stats are peaking
"I wanted to go, even though I knew it was going to be very difficult," he added.
"In the end, it didn't happen, and I kept playing, and it was perhaps one of my best seasons. We finished fourth; that year Chelsea won the Champions League.
"The season was phenomenal, and a year later, an even better opportunity came along. And in the end, it worked out even better; probably if I had joined to Chelsea, I wouldn't have gone to Real Madrid."
Modric made over 150 appearances for Tottenham, the club he signed for in 2008 in a £16.5 million ($22m) deal from Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb.