Alan Curbishley thinks that Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Luka Modric may have regretted his desired move to Chelsea in the summer.
The Croatian playmaker made several pleas to his Spurs superiors and was the subject of a £40m bid, but manager Harry Redknapp and chairman Daniel Levy stood firm and the player stayed.
In 2004, Curbishley reluctantly sold Modric's current White Hart Lane teammate Scott Parker from Charlton Athletic to Chelsea, where he lasted just 18 months and played only 15 league games.
A key factor of Parker's failure at Stamford Bridge was a change of manager midway through his spell with the Blues, as Claudio Ranieri was replaced by Jose Mourinho.
Following Andre Villas-Boas's sacking earlier this month, the former Addicks boss thinks that, if Modric had joined Chelsea, he could well have suffered the same fate as Parker.
Curbishley told The Express: "Tottenham have done fantastically well to keep him. Modric, too, has done well to accept the situation.
"At Chelsea, he could have ended in the same scenario as Scott, with one manager signing him and then being sacked after eight months.
"That was why things did not work out for Scott. Ranieri signed him and soon after that there was a change of manager and Mourinho had his own ideas."
Modric has made 150 appearances since joining Spurs from Dinamo Zagreb in 2008.
Robert Summerscales
