Tottenham Hotspur fans have been told they have Luka Vuskovic to be very happy about. There is no doubt that he will be captain.
The 18-year-old joined Spurs a month after Harry Kane’s departure and yet they have played the same number of games for the Lilywhites since then.
12
Tottenham signed Croatian star player Vuskovic from Hajduk Split in September 2023 with a contract until 2030.
However, he did not come to North London for two years due to FIFA’s rules on foreign players under 18 following the UK’s exit from the EU.
During this time, Vuskovic was loaned out to the Polish club Radomiak Radom and the Belgian club Westerlo respectively.
The £12million star made himself known to Spurs fans by scoring and assisting on his debut in a 2-0 pre-season win against Reading in July.
Read more about Luka Vuskovic
Vuskovic was released to Bundesliga giants Hamburg to further his development, with Martin Jol boldly predicting he will be better than Cristian Romero.
Two months into the new season, the defender is well on his way to becoming the Argentine’s long-term successor as Spurs captain.
European football broadcaster Andy Brassell told The Pitch Prospect.com: “I think Spurs fans can be really excited about Luka Vuskovic.
“I think he also made the absolutely right step. So not only is he allowed to play in the Bundesliga every week, but there was already a connection to the club.
“Even though he is 18 he feels at home because his older brother Mario was at the club and he is still at the club so to speak.
“Of course he’s been serving a drug ban for a while. But Luka said right from the start that I know everyone in the club anyway because of my brother. It’s actually like coming home.”
12
12
Vuskovic against Kane
The central defender experienced a baptism of fire on his debut for HSV against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
Merlin Polzin’s team conceded four goals in the first 29 minutes against Kane, Michael Olise and Luis Diaz and ultimately lost 5-0.
“For someone like him to be given this responsibility, he sets extremely high standards for himself,” Brassell added.
“He was speaking after the game where they started against Bayern and lost 5-0. If you look at Hamburg’s results in Munich over the years, 5-0 isn’t actually that bad. It’s below their batting average. So they must have done something right.”
“But Vuskovic was asked about it afterwards. He was included in the XI. As an 18-year-old in an away game at Bayern, I mean, it doesn’t get any harder when you come up against someone else with a connection to Tottenham in Harry Kane.”
12
“He stood in front of the journalists and said: ‘Yeah, I don’t think I played him that well. I was a bit disappointed in myself, to be honest.’
“The journalists there, and certainly me, watching the interview thought, ‘What do you expect from yourself?’ But he expects a lot from himself. And you can see that in every little movement he makes.”
Vuskovic broke his finger hitting a post
In just his second outing on loan, the teenager scored his first goal in a 2-1 win against Heidenheim, his opening goal being Hamburg’s first Bundesliga goal since relegation in 2018.
Still, he celebrated with a broken finger, which he sustained after hitting the post in frustration after missing a sitter earlier.
12
12
Before the international break, Vuskovic was an important part of Hamburg’s defense, which kept consecutive clean sheets in the Bundesliga.
In the first game, a goalless draw against Union Berlin, he broke a five-year record in Europe’s top five leagues by winning 18 aerial duels in a single game.
German media saw this feat Nickname: “Air Vuskovic”while he has quickly become a fan favorite among fans as well.
According to Hamburg, 1,000 of his replica jerseys have already been sold and he is considered a key factor in their survival in the Bundesliga.
12
Vuskovic a future Tottenham captain
Vuskovic emulated Jude Bellingham by being elected in September‘S Bundesliga Rookie of the Month when he first asked.
Brassell continued: “It’s just a lovely watch.
“He’s someone, even at this young age, I suppose, a little bit different, like Lucas Bergvall, who I think from the moment he came into the Tottenham team you thought, ‘Yeah, this guy’s going to be captain at some point.’
“‘There’s no doubt he’ll be captain at some point.’ And you can definitely see that in Vuskovic’s face.
“Someone who is confident but not arrogant. Someone who knows they are capable but expects a tremendous amount of themselves, doesn’t make excuses and knows they are fallible and will make mistakes.”
12
12
“What’s going to happen in the next little while is really important because obviously the results have improved for them.
“They’re in the top 10, which is great. They’re in ninth place. When you see them on their way up, you think, right, if there’s a team that’s going to go straight back down, it’s probably them.
“Of course they haven’t been in the Bundesliga for seven years and have never been relegated before.
“But a 4-0 win against Mainz at the weekend. Mainz is also decent. Last season they were really, really good and not far away from getting into the Champions League. This season they are in the Conference League. And Vuskovic looked great again.”
12
“That they can finally beat a really good team with confidence, especially after the week in which they lost [Arsenal loanee Fabio] Vieira was out for a few weeks due to injury.
“Wamed Omari, who in my opinion is the best defender on loan from Rennes, is injured and is out until Christmas, which is quite disappointing for them.
“For them to respond with a performance like that and for Vuskovic to be in a position after Omari’s injury to say, ‘Okay, sure, I don’t care how old I am. I’m the leader of this defense now.’
“And I find it super impressive to keep a clean sheet against a decent Mainz attack.”
12
Hamburg boss claims Vuskovic transfer
His eye-catching performances prompted HSV Hamburg sporting director Claus Costa to dismiss claims that Spurs could recall him in January.
In fact, the Bundesliga club told Transfermarkt.de that they already want to extend Vuskovic’s loan deal from Tottenham.
Costa said: “The issue of Luka Vuskovic has been on our minds all summer. We always had the clear intention of signing him – and he decided to join us relatively early on.”
“We didn’t want to take Luka away from Tottenham, but rather create a win-win-win situation. We help Tottenham, Luka helps us and we all help him.”
“He plays very convincingly, has great charisma and gives us a lot. We’re glad he’s here. It’s only October, so much can happen between now and May, there are a lot of variables.”
12
“There is currently no contractual option. Based on what we’ve seen so far, we would like to keep him longer – absolutely. We certainly wouldn’t mind.”
“The question is how we get there, what Tottenham’s plan is and how Luka’s season goes. But that is pure crystal ball gazing and at this stage there is absolutely no way to assess it.”
“We had very constructive discussions with Tottenham; they are a top professional club, as can be seen from communication with loan manager Andy Scoulding.”
“They are watching the player closely, which shows how they assess Luka. Tottenham are not interested in weakening us or ruining the loan.”
“It’s understandable that they’re trying to protect themselves from possible worst-case scenarios. Otherwise, I don’t want to comment further.”
“I think Tottenham also know how good the situation is here for Luka. That’s why I hope we never get into a situation where we have to think about something else.”