Tough schools hone Kane and Modric

THEY are two of the world’s biggest stars who got their lucky breaks in Europe’s most unfashionable leagues.

England’s League One and the Bosnia and Herzegovina Premier League are hardly renowned as fields of dreams, but Harry Kane and Luka Modric’s journeys to soccer’s summit serve as a great lesson for players the world over.

Tottenham sharpshooter Kane is the World Cup’s leading scorer (six) while Real Madrid’s Modric has put on a string of passing and playmaking clinics for Croatia.

Both were rejected by big clubs — “chubby” Kane by Arsenal and Spurs and “minuscule” Modric by Hajduk Split — before they were picked up by Tottenham and Dinamo Zagreb. Unsure if and when firstteam opportunities would arise, both players were loaned out.

Third-tier Leyton Orient gave Kane his first senior game, followed by spells at Championship clubs Millwall and Leicester City.

He accumulated 65 games (and 16 goals) by age 20, when he broke into Spurs’ firsts squad. He had to wait another season to break into the first XI.

“My experience at Millwall made me realise that I just couldn’t be a kid any more,” he said.

Modric was lent to Bosnia, regarded as the most brutal league in Europe, with tension emanating from the terraces on to the pitch and a host of uncompromising opponents.

“Someone who can play in the Bosnian league can play anywhere,” Modric, 32, said.

He didn’t just play, he won the player of the year at 18 as games for Zrinjski Mostar supplemented by a stint at Croatian club Inter Zapresic rounded out his apprenticeship.

Dinamo unleashed him just shy of his 20th birthday and he made a sudden impact.

He never looked back, with Paul Scholes, Andriy Shevchenko and former Croatia star Robert Prosinecki calling him one of the game’s greats.

Now Kane and Modric are on the verge of World Cup glory.