Tottenham's Niko Kranjcar wants playing time above all
Tottenham midfielder Niko Kranjcar has said playing time is paramount to him after making his first league start against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday, 6 November.
Kranjcar excelled for Portsmouth between 2006 and 2009 before joining Tottenham for an undisclosed fee on 1 September last year. Since then, the Croatian has made 27 league appearances for Harry Redknapp's
team, scoring six goals.
Since he joined the club, Kranjcar has had to rival Luka Modric, another Croatian player, for the offensive role in midfield, and the arrival of Rafael van der Vaart has intensified the competition in
midfield.
Against Bolton, a game that ended in a 4–2 defeat for Tottenham, Kranjcar hit a first-half shot high over the bar before being substituted with 78 minutes gone.
After the game, Kranjcar said he is happy at Tottenham, but that he will look elsewhere if he cannot feature regularly for Redknapp's team.
"I feel great at Tottenham, so if I could play regularly for my team, then my first option would be to stay at White Hart Lane," the 26-year-old told Croatian daily
Sportske Novosti. "But if I don’t play much, then I will have to look for other solutions. Nobody wants to be a reserve and that goes for me too. I enjoy playing football, so that is the first thing on the agenda. If there is not enough space for me
at Tottenham, then I will have to think about the next step in my career."
Frequent fixtures could help
The Croatian playmaker, who has earned 60 international caps since 2004, went on to stress that he is happy in London. "I repeat — I feel great here, but if I don’t play every game, I feel a little bit
empty."
Tottenham play thier next league game against Sunderland on Tuesday, 9 November.
The team's hectic playing schedule will likely see Redknapp continue to rotate his squad — which could spell more starting appearances for Kranjcar.
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