Harry Redknapp believes that had Luka Modric left Tottenham in the summer, the club would have faced a mass exodus of their top players.
Rivals Chelsea tried in vain to sign the Croatian but Spurs held firm and rejected all advances the Blues made for the 26-year-old.
Modric declared that he wanted to leave White Hart Lane in the summer but Redknapp has refused to condemn the diminutive schemer for having his 'head turned'.
"I love him as a player and to have lost him would have been a massive blow to the club," said Redknapp.
"It would have sent out all the wrong signals and suddenly you would have had a line of players demanding to follow him out the door.
"Luka's just a top player. You will never hear me complaining about him.
"To be fair it's the same with all those Croatian boys at Tottenham - Luka, Vedran Corluka and Niko Kranjcar. They don't sit around and sulk or throw the toys out of their pram if they don't make the team," Redknapp went on to add.
"They just come into training and get their heads down and work hard to get back in. I wish other players were as easy to deal with.
"Nobody can tell me that any player's head wouldn't be turned by the offer of Champions League football at Chelsea and a £130,000-a-week salary.
"I can't blame Luka for considering it, he's only human.
"I know some players who would never have played for the club again and gone and smashed the chairman's door down and demanded to move. Not Luka.
"If he was disappointed I have seen none of it. Not one day has he sulked."