The Croatian has agreed to a new one-year deal with Los Blancos. He has accepted the salary reduction proposed by the club.

Real Madrid and Luka Modric have agreed on a new one-year deal that will see the 35-year-old stay in the Spanish capital until 2022. The fine performances of the midfield maestro this season have convinced the club to add a further year to his current deal.

Madrid have spent several months working on sealing the contract extension. Modric, on the other hand, always wanted to continue playing for Zidane's team and has accepted a salary reduction proposed by the club to help ease some of the economic problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

When the deal is made official, Modric will prepare to enter his tenth season at Madrid. He will remain at the Spanish champions until he is 36 years old. Since his arrival in 2012 from Tottenham for €35 million, he has become a fan favourite with delightful exhibitions of midfield play.

In total he has played 383 games in the famous white shirt, scoring 26 goals and providing 61 assists. He has won four Champions Leagues, two league titles, one Copa del Rey and four Club World Cups. Individually, his performances have been highly valued, winning the Ballon d'Or in 2018 after becoming an European champion with Madrid and runner-up in the World Cup with Croatia in the same year.

This season, when it looked like it was time to bring in more youth - he has once again been fundamental for Zidane - the focal point to everything that Madrid do in the engine room. Modric is among the players most used by the French coach, featuring in an impressive 3,038 minutes across 40 matches. Casemiro, Kroos and the Croatian playmaker have formed a midfield trio that will go down as one of the finest in the club's history.

Despite the oldest of the three, his physical prowess is to be admired: at 35 years of age, he has only missed one game due to injury this season. In the spine of the team, in front of Courtois, Ramos, Varane and Casemiro, he has played a key role for Real Madrid in LaLiga as well as putting in strong performances to help the club reach the Champions League semi-finals.

Madrid wait on Ramos

With Modric's renewal now complete, the club is still waiting on Ramos and Lucas Vázquez, who see their contracts expire in June. Negotiations are not expected to be plain sailing, as the demands coming from the centre-back and full-back are not in line with what Madrid are offering.