Luka Modric has warned England that Croatia could be even better in Zagreb this time than they were in qualifying for Euro 2008, when they beat Steve McClaren’s underachievers twice, home and away. Modric, who became Croatia’s most expensive footballer when he joined Tottenham for £16.6m at the end of last season, said in the run-up to Wednesday’s key World Cup qualifier: “We’ll be at least as good, if not better after the way we played in the Euros and I’m sure we will come out on top again in the end.”

England’s most recent performance, in the 2-2 draw at home to the Czech Republic two weeks ago, was of such low quality that the Croats, who won 3-2 away to Slovenia the same night, are more confident than ever of repeating the victory they enjoyed in the corresponding fixture in Zagreb nearly two years ago. Their self-belief is buttressed by the 3-2 win at Wembley that cost McClaren his job and by an impressive showing at Euro 2008, when they beat Austria, Germany and Poland and were on course for the semi-finals until Turkey equalised with the last kick of extra time and went through on penalties. Modric, who scored in Croatia’s opening World Cup qualifier against Kaza-khstan in Zagreb last night, rates beating the Germans as the high point of his career and going out to the Turks as the nadir.

After a disappointing start to the season with Spurs, it came as something of a relief to join up with his mentor, Croatia manager Slaven Bilic, and his countrymen for last night’s match. Not that Tottenham’s early-season travails have fazed him. When you have been forced to flee by the sound of gun-fire, the family home is burnt down and your grandfather is killed in the fighting, football holds few terrors, and Modric can be forgiven his dismissive smile at the suggestion that the Premier League may be too physical for his slender frame.

As countless opponents will testify, he is tougher than he looks and has no fears about holding his own in the maelstrom that is the Premier League’s midfield. He believes he has what it takes to assume the Hoddle-Gascoigne mantle at a club where such players are cherished above all others. Undaunted by the burden of expectation, he says: “I’m good enough and time will show I have the qualities to fulfil the requirements of the strongest league in the world.”

His credentials are impressive. Bilic lauded Modric as “the best player in Europe” after his performances at Euro 2008 earned him a place in the tournament’s all-star XI. While such a ranking smacks of hyperbole, the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, wanted him badly enough to go and do the deal himself. Mature beyond his 22 years, as might be expected from a child of the Balkan conflict, Modric is an opinionated character. He was six years old when the civil war between Croats and Serbs arrived at his front door in the town of Zohin.

“I was only a child and my grandfather was killed in the fighting,” he said. “My father was at the front line and my mother and sister and I had to go and live in a one-bedroom hostel. It was the worst time of my life but I had to grow up quickly and it made me tough. I still visit my grandfather’s grave when I can. I draw strength from his memory.”

Money was tight but the family somehow found the £150 needed to enrol their football-mad prodigy at the local sports academy. Modric’s hometown club, NK Zadar, soon snapped him up as a youth player and in 2002, aged 16, he joined Croatia’s top club, Dynamo Zagreb.

A precociously gifted technician but slight of build, after a year in the youth ranks he was loaned to Zrin-jski Mostar, in the Bosnia and Herze-govina Premier League, to toughen up. Grimacing at the memory, he said: “I was only a kid and in Bosnia the game was very rough. Getting used to that helped me a lot.”

Named Bosnian Player of the Year for 2003-04, he was taken back to Croatia for the next stage of his footballing education, this time on loan to Inter Zapresic. Again Modric thrived on the new challenge, becoming Croatia’s Young Player of the Year for 2004, and in Zagreb they were sufficiently impressed to recall him and, in 2005, to tie him to a 10-year contract.

His international debut came in March 2006, in a 3-2 victory over Argentina, since when he has established himself at the fulcrum of Bilic’s fast-developing team. At Euro 2008 he scored the winner against Austria and was voted man of the match in the triumph over Germany, only to be mortified when he missed the first penalty in the shootout against Turkey.

Bilic is certain he will be a success at Spurs. He said: “I keep telling Luka he is the best player in Europe because sometimes he doesn’t realise just how good he is, and how good he can be. This transfer will be great for him.”