You know the old saying, ‘never fall in love with a loan player’, well, it’s too late for Hamburg fans. After seven long years 2. Bundesliga, the German giants are back where they should be, and 18-year-old Vuskovic has been one of their best performers.
Tottenham pounced early, beating several top European sides to Vuskovic’s signature when he was just 16 and playing for boyhood club Hajduk Split. It took just 11 first team appearances for Spurs to take notice of his talent.
An impressive season long loan spell with Belgian side Westerlo followed in 2024-25, but when Spurs evaluated the situation, the Premier League club thought it best to send him out once again. Now at Hamburg, Vuskovic is proving to be one of the brightest young defensive talents in the world.
An old head on young shoulders
There is a reason we don’t see too many teenage centre-backs at elite level football, it’s a position that demands the ability to read the game like none other, and talents like that usually come with experience.
Vuskovic was almost genetically engineered to be a central defender. He’s been a healthy 6’4” since he was 15 and is remarkably strong for someone who is technically still growing, meaning he is more than capable of wrestling with forwards ten years his senior.
Don’t be thinking he’s just a big lad, all muscle and no brains though. Vuskovic has an incredible ability old school defending with the now necessary quality on the ball needed to thrive in the modern game.
In possession, he’s an incredibly rare breed of centre-back, although Tottenham are lucky to have someone very similar in Micky van de Ven. Already this season, Vuskovic has created eight chances, completed 653 passes, and 41 accurate long balls.
What really makes Vuskovic standout, however, is his ball carrying, Again, like Van de Ven, he has a knack for popping up in attacking positions and is more than happy to take matters into his own hands and drive forward when he sees fit.
Vuskovic has made 107 progressive carries so far this season, that’s nine more than his closest competitor at Hamburg, left back/left midfielder Miro Muheim. He’s also completed three dribbles, at a success rate of 100%. That’s what happens when someone as big as Vuskovic runs at defenders, they can’t get it off him.
Already making an impression at Tottenham
Spurs fans were given a quick glimpse of what the future could look like in pre-season as Frank and his staff were assessing the youngster before deciding to ship him out on loan in order to get more first-team opportunities.
His 45 minutes in the 2-0 win over Reading, the first time he wore that famous lilywhite shirt, was particularly impressive. Coming off the bench at half time, Vuskovic had a hand in both goals, assisting the first and then scoring he second with a powerful header.
Speaking after the game, Frank was full of praise for the youngster, saying: “Luka deserves the praise. A great header. Showed his physicality and his composure on the ball. He’s not getting stressed when opponents get close. And what a strike."
Where could he fit in at Tottenham?
Vuskovic is undoubtedly a future starter for Tottenham, but for now, he’s not quite ready to start on a consistent basis in the Premier League. He will likely stay once his loan at Hamburg is over, but his chances will be as an understudy to Van de Ven.
Having two centre-backs as progressive as Vuskovic and Van de Ven playing together would be fun to watch for the neutral, and who knows, perhaps Frank could figure some tactic out that would make it work, but it would likely leave far too many gaps on the counter.
Tottenham have plenty of flaws this season, but the partnership of Van de Ven and Cristain Romero should be well down the list of priorities they need to address.
Verdict
Tottenham’s move to sign some of the best young talent around has been fruitful so far. Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall look like fantastic talents, but with Vuskovic, they might have a genuine world beater on their hands.