There has been a great swell of anticipation about Luka Vuskovic’s arrival at Tottenham despite his tender years.
The Croatian teenager was signed for £12million in 2023 when only just 16, and having played an integral role for Hajduk Split’s Under-19s on their run to the final of the UEFA Youth League.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy moved quickly and stealthily to secure Vuskovic, beating competition from illustrious rivals including Manchester City, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain.
After six months on loan in Poland with Radomiak Radom and last season on loan in Belgium with Westerlo, where he scored seven goals from centre back - the pick of them an overhead-kick which was named goal of the season in the Belgian top flight - he has finally arrived in north London and is shaping up as quite a transfer coup.
At 18, his performances in training have been strong and in his first outing in Spurs colours he made a fine impression, with a goal and an assist within eight minutes of his introduction as a half-time substitute in a pre-season friendly against Reading a fortnight ago.
Those who have seen him breeze through the youth ranks for club and country – he won his first senior cap in June against the Czech Republic - were not surprised. All the usual caveats about young players and the perils of development apply, but Tottenham’s new boss Thomas Frank has a big decision brewing.
If Frank does not envisage Vuskovic featuring regularly in the first team – and there are a cluster of centre backs ahead of him in the pecking order, such as Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Kevin Danso and Radu Dragusin – there are Bundesliga clubs lining up to take him on loan.
It would be a shame if his incredible progress were to stall because he spends a season on the sidelines.
Vuskovic has always been mature beyond his years. Tall at 6ft 4in and strong, he is the epitome of a modern central defender, comfortable with either foot, mobile, strong in the air, with a determination to go forward and, his rarest gift, an eye for goal.
'Luka had a great impact here,' Westerlo’s sporting director Francesco Carratta tells Mail Sport. 'At 17, he came in like a player I’ve rarely seen - the professionalism he showed, constantly working, respecting the team, high on discipline, always wanting to improve.
'He is a beast. Literally, first in and last out. He would come in on free days to work in the gym. He would come on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, in the gym working out.
'Our facility is only for the first team but on occasions we give the gym to the second team and they met him in there and they all look up to him. He is a guy with great personality, so friendly and approachable. I can only speak highly of him as a person and a professional.
'He doesn’t cheat, that’s the thing. You have many talented players who try to cut a corner, but he doesn’t cheat himself or the team, he puts in the effort so that’s something I respect and appreciate.'
On the pitch at Westerlo, Vuskovic was no less eye-catching and he proved an instant hit with supporters as the club narrowly missed out on a European play-off .
'He is a natural talent,' says Carratta. 'Physically very gifted, big, strong and unbelievably good on the ball. This gives him the quality to score goals, it is easy for him. He feels where to be and he has the quality to find the net. This is a quality, not something you can teach.'
Vuskovic hails from a footballing family. His father Danijel and grandfather Mario played professionally. His brother, also Mario, aged 23, was at Hamburg when hit with a four-year doping ban after testing positive for EPO. He cannot play until next year and his contract was terminated, but Hamburg promised to take him back when the ban ends.
Croatia’s Under-19s boss Marijan Budimir played alongside Danijel and coached Luka through the youth ranks of Hajduk Split.
'His father and I grew up together,' Budimir, 44, tells Mail Sport. 'We played in Hajduk Split from the Under-14s to the first team, the two centre backs or two in the back three. Danijel was a very good player, but Luka and Mario are better. Football was not always the most important thing for their father.' Laughing, he adds: 'He was young.'
Luka has suffered no such distractions, laser-focused, making accelerated progress, always playing in older age categories. Budimir says: 'When he was 13, he was playing with the Under-15s and when he was 15 he was playing with the Under-19s, so it has always been clear he has a big talent.
'His father was a big talent and his brother is a big talent, so from a young age people saw Luka and thought he could be a big prospect.'
Hajduk Split swept past Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan before losing to AZ Alkmaar in the final of the UEFA Youth League, an Under-19s Champions League, in 2023, so the secret was out about the 16-year-old in central defence.
'Luka, born in 2007, played in that team with guys who were three years older,' says Budimir. 'Everybody noticed, not only Spurs. Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, everybody wanted him.
'Technically he is very good, with both feet. He is not typical of the centre backs from 20 years ago. He is a modern centre back who can create. The coaches who want to play will love him. He is very calm with the ball. In front of 100 people or 80,000 people he will play the same. For him to be at Spurs at such a young age is good. He has a good mentality, so he will improve quickly in England.
'When the coach sees him he will love him because his technique is very good. But we will see now how he manages with the big stars. Spurs will find the best solution for him, if that is to play immediately or go somewhere else because for younger players the most important thing is to play.'
Tottenham has been a happy home for Croatian players in the past. Luka Modric, Niko Kranjcar, Ivan Perisic and Vedran Corluka all enjoyed varying successes in N17.
'I hope Luka will have a career as good as the other Luka,' smiles Budimir, who puts Vuskovic's goal knack down to instinct, on top of all his other qualities. 'If you have good delivery, he will find the ball. He has a sense of where the ball will come, an instinct.
'Twice, for the Under-19s and Under-17s at Hajduk Split, I saw him score from inside the centre circle. He saw the goalkeeper a little out of his goal and scored from the centre. I asked him how he saw the chance, and he said to me, "I always look".'
Carratta was in the stadium when Vuskovic unleashed his overhead-kick on Boxing Day in a 4-3 defeat at Club Brugge. Alfie Devine, also on loan at Westerlo from Spurs, found the net in the game too.
Tottenham charted their progress with care, loans chief Andy Scoulding checking in on a weekly basis with Carratta and staff at the Belgian club issuing monthly physical, medical and technical bulletins on both players.
Vuskovic was invited to the Pro League’s end of season awards dinner to collect the goal of the season prize. The dress code did not appear to have an impact on him.
'You had to wear a suit and tie,' recalls Carratta. 'But Luka is only busy with football, he doesn’t care about fashion or the glitz and glamour, so everybody went in a suit and tie, and he went in his street clothes. It just shows how down to earth he is.'
There is a bright future ahead. Croatia are excited about the idea of Vuskovic maturing into a natural central defensive partner for Josko Gvardiol, but he is still young and developing.
'You have to be humble and cannot compare the level of the Belgian league to the Premier League,' says Carratta. 'To say it will be easy for him is not right. I am convinced he can have an impact, but he needs to be given time.
'You cannot expect an 18-year-old boy to dominate in the Premier League because he dominated in Belgium. That’s not fair to him either, but if Spurs are patient he can become a good player.'
