Tottenham Hotspur beat Real Madrid in the race to sign Luka Vušković from Hajduk Split.
In September 2023, Tottenham reached a £12m [€13.9m] agreement with Hajduk Split for the defender to arrive in London last summer.
The Premier League side sent him on a season-long loan to Hamburg SV in August 2025. The move has worked out well for the centre-back, who has established himself in the Bundesliga.
He played 2,280 minutes from 25 matches and even managed five goals and an assist so far this season.
The Tottenham owned player is impressing at Hamburg and below are his stats per game from the Bundesliga.
Interceptions: 1.2
Tackles: 0.8
Ball recovery: 4.3
Ground duels won: 2.1
Aerial duels won: 5.5
Prior to Hajduk Split’s agreement with Tottenham, Real Madrid made advances to sign the Croatia international.
Tottenham beat Real Madrid for signing
That’s according to Hamburger Abendblatt, who report why the La Liga side failed to sign him.
The newspaper obtained several photos of the 19-year-old’s camp visiting Real Madrid in the past.
His brother, Mario, mother, Sanja, and agent Damir Smoljan met their then manager, Carlo Ancelotti, and compatriot Luka Modrić. The latter left the Spanish club for AC Milan last summer.
‘Everything pointed’ to an agreement with Real Madrid, who had offered €6m plus €6m bonuses to Hajduk Split, and discussed personal terms. However, things changed after Luka Vušković’s entourage returned to Croatia from their trip to Madrid.
A member of his family and lawyer Tomislav Kasalo had leaked Real Madrid’s interest at a pub in Split.
At that time, Kasalo also did business with Pini Zahavi, who informed him of Los Blancos’ advances. The pair worked out a plan to block his move to Spain.
It worked as Zahavi secured Spurs’ offer while the lawyer convinced the Vušković family. The latter had handled Mario’s doping ban case. He didn’t charge a fee and helped Zahavi secure Luka as a client.
What next for Luka Vušković
His rise at Hamburg has caught the attention of other clubs, including Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Zahavi recently said a decision on his client’s future will be made at the end of the season.
Last week, Luka refused to discuss his future and pointed out he has a contract with the north London club until 2030.
Transfermarkt now value him at €40m, which is a €22m increase from October 2025. This gives an indication of his rapid development, and Spurs have a decision to make on his future in the summer.
Real Madrid, for their part, would now regret losing out on the defender to Tottenham. It’s unclear whether the La Liga side will return for the Croatian at some point in the future.