Chelsea midfielder Kovacic: The two big influences on my career | OneFootball

Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic says his father and Real Madrid star Luka Modric were the two biggest influences on his career.

Writing for chelseafc.com, Kovacic stated: "My dad has always been my biggest support, as have my whole family. They sacrificed a lot for me and I tried to repay them in another way, to give my best,to be a good son to them and to always have a great relationship with my family. I never missed anything, and like you said, in some crucial moments, family members become even more connected to each other, so a lot of good things happened to us in those bad moments as well.

"One of those was meeting Luka Modric. I've been watching Luka's matches since I was about ten, that's when I started to understand football better. I had the opportunity to meet him twice. The first time I was nine or ten years old, and the second time I was about 14 years old, when Tottenham Hotspur signed him.

"That's when they said that it would be nice to take a picture with him because one day he will be my team-mate, and that came true. We really get along wonderfully and we will continue to be that way throughout our lives. I am glad to have met such a phenomenal person. Not only when it comes to what kind of player he is, we all know that, but as a person he is great, he is very calm and I really appreciate him. He is always down-to-earth, never conceited, he is an example to all us younger players and his career needs to be an example to us."