The Gunners face Arsenal for a north London derby on Sunday.
Wenger said: “We knew Modric before Tottenham knew him. We played against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and he played in the same team as Eduardo against us.
“At the time we had (Cesc) Fabregas, not a bad player. But we were interested in Modric. He is very mobile. I’m not surprised how well Modric has done, I knew he would do well.”
