Vedran Corluka has revealed how close he came to a stand-off with Harry Redknapp before he left Tottenham Hotspur. The defender says his manager would not even discuss a move to Germany when the option first came up, a detail that sits at the heart of the Corluka Redknapp transfer saga.
Corluka shared the story with Večernji, and it was later relayed in the original interview. It shows how much Redknapp valued him, and how hard Corluka had to push to leave for Euro 2012 with Croatia.
Redknapp didn’t want Corluka to leave Spurs
Corluka joined Tottenham from Manchester City in 2008 on a six-year deal. Over four years at the club, he made 109 appearances, becoming a regular starter under Redknapp.
Redknapp reacted so sharply when Corluka mentioned a move to Germany.
“When I told him that I had an option to move to Germany, Harry didn’t want to even hear about that,” Corluka said.
Redknapp’s message was blunt, Corluka says. He felt he could not lose him.
“He said to me that he still needs me and that I’m like all the other players – very important to him,” Corluka added. The words show how tightly Redknapp held onto his key defenders, even when a player had his sights set elsewhere.
For Corluka, that refusal was not a surprise. He had settled into Redknapp’s side as a dependable presence at right-back, and managers rarely give up players who fill that role without a fight.
Corluka begged Redknapp to leave Tottenham
Corluka’s numbers back up Redknapp’s reluctance to let him go. Making 109 appearances in four seasons is a heavy workload for a full-back. It points to a player trusted with regular starts.
That trust shaped the next stage of the Corluka Redknapp transfer saga. With Euro 2012 approaching, Corluka pressed his case directly to his manager.
“The day before leaving Spurs I called him, and even begged him to let me go, as that was the only option for me and my chances to be at Euro 2012,” he said.
Redknapp eventually gave way.
“And, after that conversation, he softened up and said that I can leave Tottenham,” Corluka explained.
Read together, the two moments tell a simple story. Redknapp protected his team first, but he was prepared to put a player’s international ambitions ahead of his own plans once he saw how much it mattered.
Tottenham bigger than Manchester City
That summer, Corluka left for Bayer Leverkusen, closing out four years as one of Redknapp’s most trusted defenders. Even after swapping Manchester City for Tottenham, he never doubted which club carried more weight. Speaking to the Daily Mail in a 2011 interview, before any talk of Germany surfaced, Corluka was blunt about the two clubs’ standing. “I still think that,” he said, confirming his view that Spurs remained the bigger club.
Corluka was not trying to escape a smaller stage for a grander one. He wanted his specific route into a major tournament, and Redknapp had to weigh that against his own need for a settled back line.
The same balancing act still shapes life at Tottenham. Squad decisions that protect team standards while keeping individual players content run through every transfer window, including the business covered in our transfer news. Pundits with Spurs history keep that debate alive too. Jamie O’Hara’s verdict on a recent display shows that scrutiny of the current squad has not softened since Corluka’s day. Matchday coverage such as our Aston Villa report and the Liverpool line-ups feeds into the same ongoing conversation about who Tottenham can afford to lose and who they need to keep.
Redknapp got his way with Corluka for as long as it mattered to him, then let him go once the bigger picture became clear. Spurs fans who remember that era will recognise the trade-off between personal ambition and a manager’s need to protect his side.
