Playmaker Modric was one of the stars for Croatia when they gained a shock 3-2 win at Wembley in the final group game in November to shatter England's chances of playing in Austria and Switzerland.

It was performances like that which attracted Spurs boss Juande Ramos to the Dinamo Zagreb midfielder and he is to move to White Hart Lane in a £15.8million deal.

But before he starts life in the Premier League, Modric is determined to make an impact at the European Championships with Slaven Bilic's side.

Modric has much to live up to, and has has been compared in some quarters to Dutch legend Johan Cruyff.

He made his first senior international appearance against Argentina in March 2006 and had his first taste of World Cup action three months later in Germany with two substitute roles against Japan and Australia.

Modric scored his first goal for his country in the following August against Italy and is now a key figure to their chances of achieving glory this summer.

The 22-year-old, who was also interesting Newcastle and Chelsea, has often lined up on the left for his club and has been a consistent goalscorer.

But for Croatia he often sits deep in the centre of the park but with the licence to make bombing forward runs - as England and Steve McClaren found to their cost.

Modric said: "That game with England at Wembley was not that important to us in terms of needing the points.

"But we wanted to show all the footballing world that Croatia have a very, very good team. We did our best in that game to demonstrate that.

"I was sorry for England - but in every game we want to be successful and we want to do well at the European Championships.

"In our qualification group to reach the finals, we played some very good football and won against some strong teams."

Croatia have to get the better of Germany, Austria and Poland in their qualifying group this summer if they are to make the latter stages of the tournament.

But a confident Modric said: "I believe Croatia have the qualities to come in the first two in this summer's finals. That is the first goal and after that we will see what happens."

Bilic believes Modric will reap the benefits of playing on a regular basis with Spurs once the Euros are over rather than joining one of the so called big four where his chances may be more limited.

The former West Ham player said: "Tottenham is perfect for Luka. It is better for him than, for example, going to Chelsea. Chelsea could have bought him, Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho and then Luka could have ended up on the bench."

Midfielder Jermaine Jenas is delighted to see Modric linking up with him at Spurs after witnessing his performance against England.

He said: "I saw him play in the qualifier against England and he was fantastic. It is a fantastic acquisition for Spurs and to bring in players of that calibre shows where the club is heading."

Modric signed for Dinamo Zagreb as a 16-year-old in 2002 and, after a season with the youth side, was loaned out in 2003 to Zrinjski Mostar.

It was a good learning curve given the physical nature of the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Modric later claiming: "Someone who can play in the Bosnian league can play anywhere"

Modric was loaned to Inter Zapreic for the following season, helping them to runners-up spot in the league and being awarded the Croatian Football Hope of the Year trophy for 2004 before being recalled by Dinamo Zagreb in 2005.

Dinamo were so confident of his abilities that Modrded a 10-year contract through until 2015 but only three years into that deal he has made the switch to England and is hoping that will develop him further as a player.

He said: "I have followed football closely in England because three players from Dinamo Zagreb - Niko Kranjcar, Vedran Corluka and Eduardo - came to England and all three are among my best friends.

"I am very lucky and proud to be at Tottenham. I am also happy that the coach Juande Ramos wanted me. That is the most important thing that the coach wants you as a player.

"I want to show that I have the quality for Tottenham and the English Premier League and help the club achieve big results."