Perisic next: The 4 Croatians to play for Tottenham in the Prem era

Ivan Perisic is his way to Tottenham to link up with his old boss Antonio Conte following the expiry of his contract with Inter Milan. But he won’t be the first player from Croatia to play for Spurs in the Premier League.

For a country of just four million people, Croatia produces a remarkable number of top-class footballers, as any England fan could testify.

Tottenham have taken full advantage of that fact in recent years, fielding four Croatians to varying degrees of success. We’ve taken a look at each of them and how they fared in north London.

If you remember Pletikosa’s name but can’t put your finger on why then rest assured you’re not alone.

After coming through at Hadjuk Split and playing for Shakhtar Donetsk and Spartak Moscow, Tottenham brought the goalkeeper in on loan in 2010 as a backup option.

He was thrown in for his debut in the League Cup – but it was not an ordinary League Cup game. Playing against Arsenal, Tottenham drew 1-1 in normal time before losing the plot in the 30 extra minutes and getting thumped 4-1.

Pletikosa never made another appearance in a Tottenham shirt and retied in 2016 after spells at Rostov and Deportivo La Coruna.

The best of the lot.

Modric moved to N17 as a relatively unknown, scruffy-looking 23-year-old in 2008 – but he quickly turned into one of the finest midfield players in the league, constantly finding angles and spraying passes to the likes of Rafael van der Vaart, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Gareth Bale.

With Modric running the show in Harry Redknapp’s exciting team, Spurs started challenging for the top four and making strides in Europe so it was little surprise when Real Madrid came knocking in 2012.

The exit was a little rancourous – infamously involving a dreaded