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Luka Vuskovic

Hope Lange & Co have a plan mapped out for Luka , world cup coming up with Croatia , if he has a stand out performance the vultures will be circling. Still has four years on his contract with us , his agent's are Gol International and according to Transfermarkt the most valuable player on their books.
 
I think the most important we do is offer him a new contract with a bumper pay rise. Ideally 6 years, and then let him fulfill his dream of playing another season with Hamburg so he can play alongside his brother. He also gets another season playing first team football every week. He only turns 19 this month so we still have time on our side.

The Goons had Saliba on loan for 2 seasons in France I believe and he came back a Rolls Royce of a player.
 
If either VDV or Romero are sold in the summer then Vuskovic should be here to play. We aren't going to attract a top quality CB anyway as a replacement, there isn't many of them in the world as it is.

So we would only be going for another young potentially very good player to sign, might aswell play Vuskovic....
 
harr1984 said:
If either VDV or Romero are sold in the summer then Vuskovic should be here to play. We aren't going to attract a top quality CB anyway as a replacement, there isn't many of them in the world as it is.

So we would only be going for another young potentially very good player to sign, might aswell play Vuskovic....
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Even if they are not sold he should be playing.
 
Such is life at Tottenham Hotspur, even the good news is complicated.

Luka Vuskovic is having a terrific season on loan in the Bundesliga, playing with distinction for Hamburg, but the Croatian might have performed too well and made too much of a name for himself.

Vuskovic, 18, arrived as one of the great centre-back prospects in European football. Six months on, his impact has been so profound that there is an open discussion in the German media about how Bayern Munich can sign him, how much it might cost, and whether Vuskovic will ever play a competitive game for Spurs.

In addition, there is a separate conversation relating to Vuskovic’s older brother, Mario, and about whether a second year on loan in Hamburg might be the best next step. Not because of footballing development, but within the context of a complicated family situation, the end of a disputed doping ban, and a long-held ambition.

So, it’s difficult. A simple development move has, in effect, become an advertorial for a player that Spurs would — presumably — dearly like to keep and build a future around.

Luka Vuskovic is already adored at Hamburg – the Tottenham loanee seems worth the hype
The 18-year-old defender's name has been printed on more than 1,000 shirts and his performances have been increasingly impressive

But they were still correct to send him out on loan. When Vuskovic arrived in Germany, Hamburg’s deep block placed emphasis on his core abilities, such as his strength, his one-on-one defending and his competence in the air, but different situations and opponents still revealed flaws in his game.
 
Caught too high up the pitch, he could struggle to regain position during quick counters. Facing agile, skilful wingers in isolation, he could also be exposed by sharp changes of direction, which could unbalance him and tangle his feet.

There’s a good example below. Against relegation-threatened Wolfsburg in late October, Vuskovic was made to look clumsy by Adam Daghim, a talented, but raw Danish forward, who twisted him into a knot before scoring the only goal of the game.

In the first instance, Vuskovic applied little pressure on the ball, allowing Daghim too much time to cut-in on goal.

…and to compound the mistake, he then made a rash attempt at a tackle that left him out of position and unable to make a block.

The sequence showed the importance of the loan. It revealed what he still had to learn, but it was also a mistake made in the right environment. It was his first really costly error for Hamburg. They dominated the rest of that Wolfsburg game but lost it because of his mistake. But there was no damning criticism, even externally. Instead, there was the acceptance that young players need to learn, often by being exposed to difficult experiences and harsh lessons.
 
There have been physical and emotional challenges, too. Vuskovic has become Hamburg’s biggest weapon at attacking set-pieces. Opponents have responded to that slyly, by trying to provoke him with tactile man-marking — jabs in the ribs, gentle headbutts under the chin — and then by over-reacting when he pushes them away.

During the recent Stadtderby away at St. Pauli, the Millerntor-Stadion crowd hung a banner that made reference to his brother’s drugs ban. He was visibly upset by his treatment and was then involved in an altercation in the players’ tunnel afterwards. Vuskovic was accused of spitting on the St Pauli crest on the way back to the dressing room and was then confronted by Karol Mets, the centre-back, and by a member of the home team’s coaching staff.

Vuskovic played magnificently well that night, drowning out any commotion or controversy, but it was another lesson learned about the importance of temperament and what it is to be a target.

He has responded extremely positively to all these moments; he has made startling progress in the months. Getting first-team minutes has been part of that, certainly, but much of his work is extra-curricular.

While there are some athletic shortcomings, including his slow acceleration, Vuskovic has been working with Josko Vlasic, an athletics coach, for some time. Vlasic is a former decathlete. His daughter, Blanka, is an Olympic high-jumper. His son, Nikola, is formerly of Everton, and is currently playing for Torino.

Luka Vuskovic during Hamburg’s derby match away at St. Pauli in JanuaryUlrik Pedersen/Getty Images
Vuskovic also works with a private video analysis company and speaks to an individual coach before his games. One of the focuses this season has been on his positioning and his defensive depth, and learning to tailor his approach to the range of threats the Bundesliga has to offer.

Early in his Hamburg career, he garnered attention for an incredibly dominant performance against Union Berlin. The game ended goalless, but it still featured a record-equalling 18 aerial clearances from Vuskovic. That described the value of his size and ability to compete. A hidden detail was that before that game, literally in the dressing room ahead of the warm-up, Vuskovic had been on a call with his video analyst, preparing for what he was about to face.
 
From the player’s perspective, there has been no agitating. Vuskovic speaks semi-regularly to the Croatian media, but has commented on his future only to say that a decision will be made in collaboration with Tottenham in the summer, following the World Cup.

The more instructive detail relates to Mario, his brother, who tested positive for EPO in 2022. He has always maintained his innocence and whatever the legal arguments around his case, it’s clear that the Vuskovic family has had to endure a lot in the years since, and as his four-year ban nears its expiration.

The brothers are especially close. When Luka scored his (now) famous backheel goal against Werder Bremen in December, he celebrated by running to the foot of the Nordtribüne, where Hamburg’s ultras stand, and pointing to a tattoo on his forearm. It shows the two brothers as children, arm-in-arm, above the number 44 (Mario’s number before, Luka’s number now), underneath a quote reading: “Remember why you started”.

They want to play together. That’s been mentioned in multiple interviews by Luka and by his father and with Mario’s doping ban due to expire in November, it’s now an achievable ambition.

Tottenham will have to manage that sensitively. Whether it’s realistic to expect Mario to retain his level after four years away is impossible to say. What’s clearer, is that denying Luka the opportunity to play (or train) with him for a season, could potentially damage the relationship. At a time, too, when — 15th in the Premier League, with virtually no hope of qualifying for Europe next season — Spurs are at such a low ebb.

It’s a question for the summer. Rarely does a prospect have so much agency in their own development plan, but Luka Vuskovic is different — special — and his future promises opportunity that just cannot be squandered.
 
What am I missing here, why is there speculation he’ll never play for us, his contract runs to 2030? If we sell it’s completely our decision, why all the concern? We leave him on loan at Hamburg next season to play with his brother and then starts for us in 2027…

A colleague from our Hamburg office was saying he’ll go to Bayern as well, like it’s an already known fact. Seems like this is German media driven and when Bayern want someone in Germany it happens, but he’s not owned by a German club, so…
 
Gazza Dazzla said:
What am I missing here, why is there speculation he’ll never play for us, his contract runs to 2030? If we sell it’s completely our decision, why all the concern? We leave him on loan at Hamburg next season to play with his brother and then starts for us in 2027…

A colleague from our Hamburg office was saying he’ll go to Bayern as well, like it’s an already known fact. Seems like this is German media driven and when Bayern want someone in Germany it happens, but he’s not owned by a German club, so…
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Agree. But he's making such an impact there, and our CBs aren't as good as some think - I don't think it's a given he is loaned out next year to be honest....
 
Gazza Dazzla said:
What am I missing here, why is there speculation he’ll never play for us, his contract runs to 2030? If we sell it’s completely our decision, why all the concern? We leave him on loan at Hamburg next season to play with his brother and then starts for us in 2027…

A colleague from our Hamburg office was saying he’ll go to Bayern as well, like it’s an already known fact. Seems like this is German media driven and when Bayern want someone in Germany it happens, but he’s not owned by a German club, so…
Click to expand...
The worst outcome is that we get a huge transfer fee to reinvest in the squad and I can't see Bayern paying a huge transfer fee for an 18 year old with one good season behind him.
 
I don't get the Mario angle to be fair. Are we expecting a player who has missed 4 key development years to walk back in a Bundesliga starting eleven playing the same position as his brother? Do the other couple of lads that play in their back 3 just have to step aside.
 
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