One of Real Madrid’s greatest-ever players, Luka Modric has agreed to join AC Milan. Yet the ink on his next contract will have to wait.

The 32-team, month-long Club World Cup tournament adds to what is already an overcrowded calendar and threatens to dilute quality of the game.

Now, a year out from the World Cup on home soil, you can’t help but have an acute fear that this version of the USMNT already ...