Tottenham signed Luka Modric for £18million after chairman Daniel Levy was given the all-clear by Newcastle United, according to Tony Jimenez.

The former Newcastle vice-president told the Times that the two clubs had a gentleman’s agreement in 2008 not to compete for the same players.

Jimenez explained this enabled Spurs to win the race to sign Jonathan Woodgate in the January window of 2008 after United pulled out, but Newcastle had been in pole position to beat Spurs to Modric only for owner Mike Ashley to pull the plug at the eleventh hour.

The 55-year-old businessman explained the deal collapsed when Ashley baulked at Dynamo Zagreb’s asking price, which Spurs agreed to pay five days later in April 2008.

“We flew Modric over to Newcastle, got him to the training ground,” Jimenez told the Times. “Everything was pretty much agreed but it was down to Mike. He was given the numbers — a £16 million fee and £2 million commission for the agent — and decided he didn’t want to take the risk. “We had a gentleman’s agreement with Tottenham that we wouldn’t compete for the same players. We let Jonathan Woodgate go to Spurs on the basis that we would get Modric, but Mike didn’t want to pay. In the end I told Daniel Levy that we had pulled out and that Tottenham should sign him.” OPINION Amid the claims and counter-claims over what happened during Kevin Keegan’s second spell at Newcastle in 2008, the Modric anecdote is a fascinating one. Clearly, Ashley’s cautiousness – nothing has changed there – backfired massively over Modric, who had four excellent years at Tottenham before joining Real Madrid for £30million. The Croatian midfielder has subsequently established himself as one of the world’s outstanding players. He has been a key player of the Real side that has dominated European football over the last half-decade and has had such a brilliant year, in which the Spanish giants retained their Champions League crown and Croatia were World Cup runners-up, he was named the week as the best player in the world by FIFA. It is safe to say Ashley did not make his best business decision all those years ago. If Newcastle fans didn’t laugh, they would cry.