Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Chelsea will need to find a replacement for Frank Lampard this summer, and Luka Modric is the perfect midfielder to take his place.

After swinging and missing to bring Modric to Stamford Bridge last summer, Chelsea will again have that opportunity. Last time around, Chelsea didn’t want to overpay for the midfielder’s skills, and he eventually went to Real Madrid. The unfortunate thing—for Real Madrid—is that Modric has underperformed.

Bleacher Report featured columnist Richard Langford recently discussed the situation with Modric:

While Real Madrid just signed Modric this past August for £33 million, it is already time for them to start considering cutting their losses and moving away from Modric. Shoot, they already have. Modric has only started eight league matches this year and he’s scored just one goal. Modric has looked like a shell of his former self when he has been on the pitch for Real Madrid.

Simon Phillips of the International Business Times wrote that a Spanish newspaper deemed Modric’s deal with Real Madrid as “The worst La Liga signing of the season.”

Basically, Modric and Real Madrid haven’t been the ideal fit, and the time is now for Chelsea to jump at the opportunity to add him to the club. Simon Rice of The Independent reports that Chelsea is known to be one of the leading candidates pursuing the 27-year-old.

Acquiring Modric is the perfect move for Chelsea. Because he has been so bad for Real Madrid, they’ll probably give him up for a more than reasonable price. Real Madrid is out of their minds if they think they can get top dollar for Modric at this point in the year.

Chelsea is going to have to fill the void left by Lampard. Why not give Modric the opportunity to redeem himself with a new team?

Just because Modric didn’t play as well as expected in La Liga doesn’t mean that will translate back to Premier League play. Keep in mind that Modric was successful enough with Tottenham to even earn that large of a deal with Real Madrid. There’s no reason to believe he couldn’t return to form with a second chance.

Last summer, a deal for Modric would have been costly for a player who might not have succeeded but had the potential to. The high-risk, high-reward thought process no longer applies if Chelsea can get Modric cheap—then, it’s low-risk, high-reward.