Official: Luka Modric renews with Real Madrid until 2025

Luka Modric will still be playing for Real Madrid at the age of 39. Today the news was made official: the veteran midfielder has renewed his contract for one season, taking him to June 2025.

Luka Modric will overtake Ferenc Puskás in 2024/25

It was the only thing missing to crown what has been a remarkable career. In 2024/25, Modric will surpass Puskás to become the oldest player to play for Real Madrid in club’s 122-year history. Cañoncito Pum’s last appearance for Madrid was in the first leg of the Copa de Generalísimo quarter finals against Betis on 8 May 1966. He was aged 39 years and 36 days.

Luka, who turns 39 in September, will be able to overtake Puskás from 17 October. He will undoubtedly set a new record at some point next season. Luka is already the oldest player in LaLiga but, with this rank, he will be the oldest in all competitions. And at 38 years old, who will be 39 in September, he still has the strength and football to continue. And he will do it one more year. Luka stays, at least, until 2025.

“I want to continue only if I deserve it, not because it is given to me. They have never given me anything in my life and they won’t now,” he said after a Champions League game at Anfield. A phrase that has stayed with him. For Modric, renewing keeps the flame of sporting ambition alive while a new deal is also beneficial for Madrid. The club accepts that he has plenty of football left in him - had that not been the case, they would have released him a long time ago.

And as this newspaper reported some time ago, Luka has accepted a substantial salary reduction. He will earn around half of his previous wage. He fully understands that he is in the final stretch of his career and that some things must change. That’s entirely normal, and forms part of the natural cycle.

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Modric’s secondary role

Modric struggled at the beginning of last season and was regularly substituted or relegated to the bench (Bellingham’s arrival was a reality check). He didn’t play a full game until December (against Union Berlin in the Champions League and Villarreal in LaLiga). But he managed those setbacks with courtesy - without any rudeness, gestures or long faces. Luka carried on working silently as he always has and months later reaped the rewards.

He accepts that he now has another role in the side, a more secondary one. He is a leader in the locker room, a key figure and Ancelotti counts on him for important games but with over 70 games to play in a season and with the fierce competition in the midfield engine room, he will often be a substitute. He is no longer an indisputable first choice. And Modric has made it clear that for him, that will not be a problem.

However, the burning ambition remains and Luka is keen to show that he can always be a starter if needed. A competitor of his stature never loses his drive, but without causing any harm to what matters most - the team. The team comes first and the players come later. No one is above Real Madrid - that’s the motto in Chamartín and Luka knows and understands it better than anyone. He will compete for his place with Tchouameni, Camavinga, Valverde, Bellingham, Ceballos and Güler - andin the first post-Kroos season. He is the last man standing of the Holy Trinity.

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Luka Modric closing in on Pirri

As for the all-time appearances ranking, Modric has played 534 official matches, and currently sits 14th in the table (last season he surpassed Chendo and Roberto Carlos) and is closing in on legends such as Guti (542 games), Marcelo (546 games - if he overtakes the Brazilian he will be the second foreigner with most games, only behind Benzema) and Pirri (561). In fact, he is just over 30 games away from entering the historical Top 10 and, if he has a successful year, he could surpass Camacho (577). That would be difficult but not impossible.

Captain and laureate

As for titles, the summary speaks for itself: six Champions Leagues, four Leagues, two Copas del Rey, five Club World Cups, four European Super Cups and five Spanish Super Cups. In total, 26 trophies, the most in the entire history of Real Madrid... tied with Nacho. With the departure of the Complutense player, he is one away from achieving this milestone in his own right. He needs to win just one, of the seven trophies that Real Madrid will be competing for this season. The first opportunity will be the European Super Cup against Atalanta in Warsaw on 14 August.

And there is another new challenge as Real Madrid’s first captain, taking the armband from Nacho, who left this summer to join Saudi Pro League side, Al-Qadsiah.

Mbappé, without the No.10 jersey

So Modric is staying. And that is a slight problem for Mbappé, who will have to choose another number for his first year: the No.10 is taken. Rodrygo’s ‘Dad’, the boy who escaped the war, the one who his team mates affectionately call “vinegar” for his bitterness at losing - even in training... has renewed for another season.

Luka will play for Real Madrid, at least, until he is 39 years old - a privilege not many players have been awarded. But as Luka knows, it wasn’t a gift - he has earned it. He decided to stay because he feels that he still has strength, football and hunger. Without Toni, the show must go on...