Joey Barton Names Ex-Tottenham Star Luka Modric as His Toughest Premier League Opponent

Joey Barton has never been shy of an opinion on matters on and off the pitch but his latest admission of the greatest player he came up against in his Premier League career may surprise a few.

Now manager of promotion chasing Fleetwood Town in League One, the former midfielder - who played for a string of Premier League outfits including Manchester City and more recently Burnley - was speaking to the Football CFB Podcast about his career and foray into management.

Barton said that despite playing against the likes of Roy Keane, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, he singles out Croatian playmaker Luka Modrić as the best player he faced in his career.

"I'm fortunate enough to have played against pretty much every household Premier League name" Barton exclaimed. "You play against them at different times so when I played against Roy Keane he was coming to the end. He wasn't quite the box-to-box midfielder he was in his early days at Manchester United."

"Scholes was very, very hard to get to. He went places you just couldn't go

"Gerrard obviously with his running and physicality. What a player - he could do everything

"Lampard was the best at ghosting off of you and getting goals without being a top player. But his goal record at Chelsea speaks for itself and he was wonderful at what he did"

"Makelele was arguably the best number 4 in the world at the time, Vieira an absolute powerhouse. I could go on and on."

"The one I was lucky enough to play against at his absolute peak was Modrić at Spurs. I remember coming off and thinking he was the best I played against in the Premier League.

"I thought he was on a different level and in the summer Real Madrid signed him. Honestly you could tell he was at an elite level which he's gone on to show with what he's won. So he would be the best individual performance I came up against."